Luka and Gakupo: A Love of Tuna and Eggplants
by R.L BlackRose
Summary: Luka, Gakupo, and the Vocaloids have lived peacefully in their Mansion for some time... but what will happen when their creator, the company Cryptin, comes back into the equation? Luka X Gakupo. [OLD]
1. Introduction

**Introduction/Important Information:**

Why, hello there!

Guess what? So, this fanfiction isn't a stand-alone story, it's actually a sequel. If you want to fully understand this story... listen carefully, now... you must read the ENTIRE FIRST STORY. You might be able to eventually get it if you don't, but it is always better to read the first fanfic in this series first. You can go to it by clicking on the following link:

Luka and Gakupo: A Story of Tuna and Eggplants

I then, after finishing that one, made a mini-sequel. The minisequel is not NECESSARY, like the first book, but recommended!

You can go to the mini-sequel by clicking on the follwing link:

Haku's Troubled Dreams 

Okay, that is all! I hope you enjoy my humble story, and... happy reading!


	2. Chapter One

**Author's Note: Why, hello there!**

**Even though this chapter was the first one I made, it took a surprisingly short amount of time to write. Which is good, because it means I can write faster!**

**Anyway, if you saw the introduction, you know that if you haven't read at least the first book in this series, you will be confused about some things. READ IT IF YOU HAVEN'T. EVERYTHING WILL MAKE MORE SENSE! PLEASE!**

**Here is the link to the first story: ****Luka and Gakupo: A Story of Tuna and Eggplants **

**Sooo... happy reading!**

**DEEEESCLAIMER: ME NO OWNZ VOCALOID, ZE CHARACTERS IN ZIS, OR ZE SONGS MENTIONED IN ZIS. **

Chapter One

Luka woke up to the singing of birds mixed with the trilling of her alarm clock on a bright monday morning. She squinted into the golden light of the sun streaming through the window, and lazily reached her arm out to turn off the alarm clock.

Once it was off, she sat up, the covers collapsing off the bed and landing in a rumpled heap on the floor next to it. Luka stretched her arms and yawned.

And then gasped and looked at the time.

She had set the alarm clock five minutes late! She scrambled out of bed and thundered down the stairs.

Five minutes didn't make much of a difference at all with cooking breakfast... but it mattered because of another reason.

When Luka flung the downstairs door open, Gakupo was already there. He glanced at his watch and said, "Tsk, tsk, tsk. Careless!" Then, he turned his head and grinned. His purple hair, tied into a neat ponytail, swayed and shone in the light from the window.

"YOU. REMATCH. TOMORROW." said Luka, steaming.

"Face it!" he sang, approaching her. "I will always come down to the kitchen before you!"

Luka grumbled something about stupid people and then shuffled over to the fridge. "So, what should I make today?"

"Ooh, ooh, ooh!" Gakupo jumped up and down like an excited schoolgirl. "Make eggplant stew! Make eggplant stew!"

"Why?" groaned Luka. Then, she turned and was surprised to find Gakupo staring up at her pleadingly, his eyes shining.

"Pleeease?" he begged her.

_GAH, HE'S SO CUTE! I can't resist._

"Fine. But it's coming out of YOUR eggplant stash!" she said sternly.

"Yes!" Gakupo shouted and danced around the kitchen. "We're having Eggplaaaaants, we're having eggplaaaaaaaants, we're-"

A giant tuna greeted his face, slapping into him. Gakupo wiped the fish slime off his face with his sleeve.

"Where do you even _get_ all these random fish that you pull from nowhere?" he groaned, sighing heavily.

"From my secret stash." said Luka triumphantly, then started dicing up some eggplants. She noticed Gakupo flinching, and turned.

"Please tell me you're not feeling sorry for the eggplant I'm killing right now."

Gakupo gave a meek nod.

Luka rolled her eyes, then smiled evilly and sliced slowly into the eggplant. The slice came off with a *pop* noise.

"Hey! You did that on purpose!" said Gakupo, pouting.

"Who said I didn't?" said Luka smugly, finishing her dicing and tipping the plate of eggplant bits into a pot of boiling water.

Gakupo breathed in, then realized he had nothing to respond to that.

"Thought so." said Luka, and sprinkled some other ingredients into the stew.

"Thank yooouuu...!" Gakupo squealed, watching the eggplant stew simmer. Luka turned to stare at him.

"What?" said Gakupo.

…*stare*...

"What, what IS it?"

She turned back to the stove and let out a breath. "There are some people that I will simply never understand."

"Okay!" said Gakupo.

Luka turned to him. "Did you catch any of what I just said?"

He shook head, and smiled as he used up all his concentration watching steam rise from the eggplant concoction.

Everyone sat at the breakfast table, slurping the eggplant soup.

Rin gagged. "Ugh, I hate this stuff!"

"Luka," said Len, making a disgusted face. "Why did you give in to Gakupo's demands?"

Luka, who wasn't to thrilled with eggplants stew herself, was about to give a grumpy answer when Gakupo cut in.

"Because she can't resist me!" said Gakupo, sidling up next to her.

Luka poured a spoonful of the soup down Gakupo's shirt. "OW!" he screamed.

"Okay, I'll have to admit. Doing THAT was very irresistable." said Luka, standing up.

Gakupo groaned. "Why am I the only one who always gets food on me?"

"Because you provoke Luka." said Al, sitting next to Miku.

"It's quite entertaining!" said Meiko.

Kaito was staring at her. "Meiko... what are you _wearing?_"

Meiko glance at him. "My new low cut shirt! Isn't it awesome?" she turned towards him. "What do you think?"

Kaito turned away, turning pink. "Nothing!"

Lily shook her head. "Will anyone here ever learn?"

"Learn what?" asked Ann, tugging on her sleeve.

"Oh... many things."

Black Rock Shooter (also known as BRS) stood up. "WE ARE ALL GOING TO BE LAAATE!" she shouted at all of them, then ran out.

Haku stood up to follow her. "I'm going to go now too."

"I'll go with you!" said Mikuo, shooting up right behind her. She stumbled and tipped over a bowl of eggplant stew.

"Show-off." muttered Miku.

"That's the third spill this week." said Grandpa Hiro, their caretaker, sadly.

Mikuo laughed nervously, grabbed Haku's hand and pulled her out.

Everyone else stood up to leave. "Bye, Hiro!" a few of them shouted, slinging backpacks over their shoulders and bounding out.

Hiro watched them leave.

And then, he took out his cell phone and dialed a number.

He held the phone up to his ear.

"Hello?" said a voice on the other end.

"Hi." said Hiro, fiddling with a napkin. "Do you remember what I wanted to know?"

"Yes." said the voice. "And I found out."

"So... is it coming back?" asked Hiro worriedly.

"They're trying." said the voice. "They are definitely trying."

Hiro sighed. The bad news stung.

"Okay, thanks." he said. "Bye-"

The phone beeped. The other person had hung up.

Hiro set the phone down.

_They're growing up so fast and successfully... why did this have to pop up again?_

And it was true that they were growing up.

Especially because some of them were already in college.

Luka, Gakupo, Lily, BRS, and Al were enrolled in the college nearby.

It had been a few years since the incident at Sutin tower, when Gakupo had gotten kidnapped by a power hungry man, Ata Udne, who wanted his the energy from his and the other Vocaloid's powers. Gakupo had been stabbed and dropped off a building, but still somehow survived. That was when Luka had admitted to him and herself that she loved Gakupo. Yes, three, four years, maybe even five. It had been a little of a shorter amount of time since Haku, BRS and Mikuo had joined Vocaloid Mansion.

They were all growing. And since the incident at Sutin tower, there had been no other things that had stood in their way.

But now... something new was happening.

Hiro just hoped that it wouldn't affect them, even though deep inside, he knew that it would.

The bus stopped at the college, Canta college, and the door hissed open.

All the Vocaloids waiting outside stepped in.

"I FAILED IT!" said Al. "I failed...!" he curled up into a ball on a seat. "I'LL NEVER GET ANYWHERE IN LIIIFE!"

"Oh, man up!" said Luka. "It's just one test!"

Al looked up and gave her a look that clearly told her that this was not the time.

Gakupo walked up beside her, his face hidden by the stack of books that he was carrying. His head peeked out from the side. "May I sit?" he asked.

Luka nodded. Gakupo plopped down, his books falling back into a neat stack in his hands. "Hellooo!" he said, dropping his books down by his feet.

"Greetings." muttered Luka.

Gakupo stared at her. "Eggplant soup...! Oh, I can just taste it on my tongue!" he clasped his hands in delight.

"Well, guess what I'm making for dinner tonight?" said Luka.

"Yes? What?" said Gakupo.

Luka licked her lips, her mouth watering just thinking of the one, magical, word.

"Tuna."

"Tuna? But that stuff is... it smells!" said Gakupo.

"Eggplants are repulsive, you know." said Luka, shrugging. "It's only fair that I get to pick what I'm making for dinner, since YOU picked breakfast." She then turned and said "HA!" in his face.

"You're being meeean." said Gakupo.

"You're being annoooying." Luka said back.

And then they both turned and realized their faces were close together. They both automatically closed their eyes and their lips touched softly in a kiss.

"Awww...!" said Lily. "Doesn't that just warm your heart, Al?"

Al was rolling around on the floor of the bus.

Lily rolled her eyes. "AL!"

"Donntalktomeee..." said Al dejectedly. "I'm a FAILURE..."

BRS snorted. "Darn right you are, rolling around on the floor like that. You look like a sausage."

Lily smacked her head into the seat in front of her.

Suddenly, the bus screeched to a stop in front of the school that the rest of the Vocaloids were attending. They all thundered in.

"HEY, AL!" the twins said simultaneously.

"Nooo... don't bother me now..." he said from under a seat.

Miku approached the seat and knelt down. "Wow, Al, you don't look so good!"

"NO? REALLY?" he moaned loundly.

As Miku tried to comfort Al, Meiko strode onto the bus. "And then he was like-!"

Kaito was trying not to look at her. "Er... Meiko...?"

"I got so mad, it was like- what, Kaito?"

He smiled nervously. "Can you, uh... pull up your... your shirt...?"

"Why?" said Meiko, confused.

"Because you look like a slut!" called BRS from that back.

"BRS...!" whispered Lily, but it was too late.

"Oh, the shirt?" she said, looking down. "Well, you're just jealous because I have better a better fashion sense that you do!"

BRS snorted. "Well, if that's good fashion sense, I don't know what this world is coming to. You would never dress like that, would you, Haku?" she turned.

Haku was sitting next to Meiko jotting down notes on fashion.

"WHY, HAKU? WHY HAVE YOU BEEETRAYED MEEE?" called BRS.

Ann ran up to Lily to tell her about her day, and as she talked, the bus went on towards Vocaloid Mansion.

"I hate Mondays...!" Miku whined at the dinner table. "I want my weekend back!"

"Okay, now you're just being lazy." said Lily, folding her napkin as she set it on her lap.

Gakupo poked his chopsticks into the tuna. Luka was happily shoveling it into her mouth, saying "Mmmm...!" in a dreamy voice.

"How can you _eat_ this stuff?" he muttered.

"Simple." said Luka, swallowing her apparently delicious fish. "You put it in your mouth, chew it, and-"

"NOT what I meant!" said Gakupo. He looked at his plate in slight disgust.

"You should appreciate my fish!" said Luka. She scooped up some of Gakupo's tuna on chopsticks and held it in front of his mouth. "Here comes the plaaa-aaane...!"

"Oh, come on!" said Gakupo, crossing his arms and looking away. "I'm not a baby!" I can-" when he said "can", Luka stuck the chopsticks into his mouth. He sat for a moment, surprised, then took them out.

"Heeey, this isn't half bad!" he said, surprised, then started eating.

"Told you so." said Luka, polishing off the last of her tuna.

Luka walked to Gakupo's room. It was late.

She knocked on the door. "Gakupo?" she said.

"Come in!" Luka heard, so she opened the door. Gakupo was sitting on his bed listening to music.

"Watcha listening to?" she asked, looking over his shoulder.

He showed her the album cover on the screen.

It was Magnet. Their song.

"I still can't believe that we got that one recorded and sold!" said Luka, giggling.

"Yeah, I know! It was, like, a hit!"

Luka laid her head on Gakupo's shoulder. He wrapped his arm around her.

"You're tuna was actually pretty good, Luka." he whispered into her ear through a smile.

Luka snuggled into his chest. "I'm still not saying that eggplants are tasty." she said, smiling with her eyes closed.

"Drat!" said Gakupo. "You got me."

Luka laughed. Then she saw Gakupo take the headphones off of his head and twist one side. "So you can listen, too!" he said.

Luka nestled her ear into the headphone's side. She heard two voices, her's and Gakupo's singing together.

And then, as the chorus played, Luka and Gakupo kissed in the soft light of the bedside lamp that sat next to them.


	3. Chapter Two

**Author's Note: Why, hello there!  
I have got to tell you, I am absolutely in LOVE with the way this story is turning out! Seems that slowing down might ACTUALLY be good. Oooh, the next chapter will be goood. I have most of it planned already. WOOOHOO!**

**I have started playing "fancy pants" or other games randomly during the story as to keep my focus. It works, try it! But not for TOO long, or you forget what you're writing.**

**Disc-LAME-r (I know I used that already... but me likes!) I DO NOT OWN VOOOOOCALOID OR THE CHAAAAAARACTERS OR THE SOOOOONGS mentioned in this faaaaaaaaaanfiction. So if you're looking for cheese, eat it out of the phone. Wait... did I just write that?**

Chapter Two

As the lazy Tuesday morning descended upon Vocaloid Mansion, Luka was waking up. She didn't need the alarm clock this time... she hadn't slept very well, actually.

Luka stood up to stretch, and then felt a wave of dizziness that made her sit back down on her bed. _Whoa,_ she though. _I must be really tired. _She then checked the time.

_Well, at least I got up early enough to beat Gakupo! _she thought, then trotted silently out the door and into the corridor. She froze at the top of the stairs. Not a sound was heard throughout the house. She tiptoed down the wide stairs and down the hall until she was in front of the kitchen.

She opened the door...

And then she screamed and jumped back.

"Gakupo?" she said incredulously, "How? I mean...?"

Then, she noticed that something was off. He was staring straight ahead, his eyes wide. "Gakupo...?"

"LUKA!" he shouted. "HI YOU WEREN'T COMING EARLY ENOUGH SO I STOOD HERE UNTIL YOU DID AND-!"

Luka held up one hand. "Stop talking, I-" then, something caught her eye. An empty coffee cup. She picked it up and swished it's contents around.

"You have got to be kidding me." she muttered. No wonder Gakupo was so... jittery.

"SORRY I wanted to be awake when you got down here so I made some coffee and it tasted pretty gross but I-"

Suddenly, something cold and slimy whapped him in the face. "Control yourself!" said Luka sternly.

"Ow." said Gakupo, holding his face. "Okay, I think I'm back in control now."

"Hm. Really? I don't THINK SO!" said Luka, then whapped him again.

"Hey! Quit it!" said Gakupo.

*Whap Whap Whap!*

"Stoppit stoppit stoppit!" he shouted.

She shrugged and walked over to the closet. "What should I make today?"

Gakupo rocked back and forth. "Eeeegplaaants...!"

Luka turned with a murderous stare. "NO." she said. "NO. JUST... NO."

"Fine!" said Gakupo, holding up his hands to shield himself from Luka's ferocious death-stare. "Uh... how about steak? OOOH yeah I like steak!"

Luka stared at him and sighed.

"WHAT?" said Gakupo. "I didn't say eggplants! Aren't you proud of meee?"

"You have no sense of taste." said Luka, shaking her head and disgust. "I'm thinking eggs."

Gakupo moaned. "But we ALWAYS have eggs!"

"YOU seem to eat LOTS of eggplants OVER AND OVER AND OVER AGAIN. IT'S BEEN _YEARS_ since you started. But eggs? NOOO eggs get BORING FAST." said Luka sarcastically.

"But... eggplants are awesome!"

"See? SEE?" said Luka, whirling in a rage. "THE TOPIC... ALWAYS TURNS TO EGGPLANTS!" She threw her hands up into the air. "Why? WHY?"

Gakupo backed away. "Sheesh! I was only trying to-"

*WHAP*. The fish smacked into his face. It left a fish-shaped red print on his face.

"Heeey," said Gakupo, flinching. "You're being mean to meee!"

Luka growled at him as she cracked some eggs over the pan. She turned slowly. "What... did... you... say... GAKUPO?" she said in a mock sweet voice.

Gakupo gulped. "Uh... uh, nothing! Yeah!"

Luka turned back to her eggs. She was so tired... she felt her vision blur.

"Are you all right?" asked Gakupo, glancing at her sideways.

"Yeah, why wouldn't I be?" said Luka.

"You're red."

Luka lightly touched her forehead. It was pretty warm...

"It must be the fumes from the stove... HEY WHY DO YOU CARE?"

"Because I like you!" said Gakupo, sidling up beside her and sneaking a peek at the eggs.

"Well, I'd LIKE you to set the table for me." said Luka grumpily.

"Yes, sir!" said Gakupo, and fetched some chopsticks.

"Hey, Gakupo," said Luka. "Is it hot in here?"

"Or is it just you?" said Gakupo, grinning.

~Five minutes later~

"OW! OW! OW!" said Gakupo. He was in the corner of the room.

"YOOOUUU... WIERDO!" said Luka, slapping him with the fish.

"Stop it, now I'll smell like fish!" Gakupo whined.

Luka shoved the fish down his shirt.

For the next about... two, three, minutes he ran around yelping, "AH! COLD! COLD! COLD!"

Luka was watching all this with a smile. "Well, here's an idea!" she said. "Take the fish OUT!"

Gakupo screeched to a stop. "Oh... yeah!" he drew it out and dropped it in disgust. "Gross!"

Luka had already turned back to her pan. She slid the eggs onto the plates neatly set next to the stove.

"Why is it always down my shirt?" Gakupo complained, shivering in revulsion.

"Would you rather it be down your pants?" said Luka in a dangerously quiet voice.

"Uh.. er, n-no thanks!" said Gakupo, stepping away and holding his hands up.

Suddenly, they heard everyone coming down the stairs.

"I gotta run!" said Gakupo.

"Traitor!" Luka called after him, then braced herself.

Everyone ran into the kitchen towards their plates, and whisked them away. Miku stayed behind a little.

"So," she said, biting into the egg. "How's it going with you and Gakupo?"

"He can be annoying sometimes!" said Luka, crossing her arms.

Miku smiled. "Go on..."

"BUT IT'S SO CUTE WHEN HE IS!" said Luka, grinning. "He looks just like a little kid, with his eyes shining up at me, and...!"

"Uh... Luka?" said Miku, looking over Luka's shoulder as she kept talking.

"And the way he always talks about eggplants... so adorable! And also..."

"Luka...? Luka!" said Miku, drawing her finger across her throat.

But Luka didn't see that. "Oh, and the way he always shows up just to be with me in the morning, when I'd usually be-!"

"LUKA!" shouted Miku at the top of her lungs. Miku then pointed behind her.

Looking completely surprised, standing in the doorway with the napkin dispenser, was Gakupo.

Luka turned a brilliant shade of bright red as Gakupo grinned.

"I knew it!" he said, dancing in circles. "You like me, you like me-!"

An object whirled through the air, and struck Gakupo in the face. It was a ginormous tuna. He peeled it off, and then found that Luka was gone.

"Where'd she go?" he asked Miku. Miku sighed and pointed at the floor.

Luka had stuck her head into the sink, amid all the plates. "Uh, Luka...?" said Gakupo.

"DONT TALK TO ME." said Luka simply.

The confused look vanished off Gakupo's face, replaced by a happy, fulfilled look of contentment. "Oh, I get it! You need some time to absorb the fact that I know you like me!" He smiled.

A guttural noise of despair emerged from the sink.

"I guess I'll leave you to that!" said Gakupo, and skipped away singing, "she loves meee, she loves meee...!"

Luka drew her head out of the plates.

"What have I done?" she moaned.

Luka walked out of the last class of the day, feeling a little weak for some reason. It was probably her dread of getting on the bus and facing Gakupo again.

_He's NEVER going to let me forget about this one... BAD Luka, BAD! _she thought. She then walked outside. A gust of wind blew past her, and she swayed slightly as her hair blew in strands to one side. _Huh. I must not have eaten enough today._

Then, she realized that everyone was wearing winter coats but her.

And... she wasn't cold.

_Okay. Something's strange. Maybe I have a slight fever or something. Gah, I hope Gakupo never discovers that! He'd rub it in my face._

Gakupo ran to her side. "Hi!" he said. "So... what's up?"

Luka closed her eyes. "Well, I-"

"Do you actually like meee?" squealed Gakupo, bouncing up and down, apparently unable to hold off getting to the point.

Luka did a headpalm. "Maybe."

She looked up and Gakupo for a second, and found that he was staring at her with an adorable, faked hurt expression. He reached his hand out, and it hovered in the air.

Luka sighed. _I'll regret this in the future... I SO will..._ she thought, and grabbed his hand.

"You really DO care!" said Gakupo, bouncing up and down. His purple ponytail jumped with him. A sudden gust of cold wind whipped past them, raising Luka's skirt. It settled around her, and Gakupo shivered. He then realized Luka's coat-lesness.

_Drat._

"Hey, Luka..." he asked. "Aren't you cold?"

"A little," muttered Luka.

"I can make you warmer!" said Gakupo eagerly, wrapping his arm around her shoulders. His arm felt cold and soft against her skin, and she relaxed into his touch.

The bus screeched to a stop in front of them, and they climbed in.

Inside the bus, it was uncomfortably warm, at least for Luka. "Ah!" said Gakupo, stretching out his frozen limbs. "It feels good to-"

Lily and Al stumbled in. "Yes! We made it!"

"Wait... but where's BRS?" said Al.

BRS practically flew in, and the bus driver shook his fist at her. "You coulda killed me!"

"Oh, suck it up!" she moaned, and sat down.

"What's wrong?" asked Lily.

"IT'S HAKU!" she said in despair. "She... she...!"

"Yes?" said Luka, interested.

"SHE KISSED MIKUO!"

"Okay, so?" said Al.

"She's too young for that!" BRS put her head in her hands. "She needs to grow up refined and disciplined...!"

"Yep. Just like you." muttered Al.

BRS gave him a death look of doom and he stopped talking.

Luka sat down next to Gakupo, and their hands slipped towards each other until they were locked together.

The bus stopped at the other school. Rin and Len came in, opened their mouths, and...

"NOT ONE MORE HAIR GEL JOKE." said Al menacingly.

"Whoa, you read our minds!" said Len, flashing him a smile.

Miku leaned down next to him. "Don't let them bother you, their just mean!"

Haku and Mikuo stepped in, holding hands. BRS whimpered and reached out her hand towards them as they sat down together.

"Hey, BRS... they kissed again today!" said Rin.

"Stop pushing my buttons!" said BRS. "It won't work on me like it does on Al.

~Five minutes go by~

"SHUT UP!" shouted BRS, covering her ears. "SHUT... UP!"

"And maybe they'll make out!" Rin was saying.

"How romantic!" Len responded.

"You should probably stop worrying!" said Ann to BRS. "I think it's cute! They're perfect together!"

Meiko turned. "The kid is growing, BRS. Right, Kaito?"

"Mmph?" said Kaito through a mouthful of mint-chip.

Meiko sighed. "Never MIND." she grumbled.

"Stop eating on mah bus!" shouted the bus driver. No one even looked at him. He turned back to the steering wheel and grumbled, "One day, those kids'll be the death of me, I just know it."

Luka tiptoed to Gakupo's room. It was open a crack. She walked in.

Gakupo was sitting, reading. He looked up, and a smile spread across his face, hidden in the shadows. He gave a small wave. "Hi!" he said.

Luka lightly sat on the bed. "Gakupo... something has been worrying me."

"Shoot." said Gakupo, setting down his book.

Luka glanced down, embarrased. "So... we're already in college."

Gakupo nodded, and Luka went on. "We will eventually..." she gulped. "Leave college. And start our own lives, apart."

Gakupo looked at her with sad eyes. "You're not the only one that's been thinking."

"You too?" said Luka, looking up at him. Her eyes shone in the lamplight.

He stared back at her sky-blue eyes and nodded. "I won't be able to see you cooking breakfast anymore."

Luka sighed. "And we'll all have different families... and different neighbors..."

"And we'll be occupied by work, so it'll be hard to see each other much. Yeah."

Luka was surprised. _So... everyone else is probably dreading this too._

"Well, we'll still see each other. It'll be fine." said Gakupo, and Luka leaned her head on his shoulder.

But he knew that it really wouldn't be. And Luka did too. Gakupo tried to convince them both otherwise.

"Everyone else in the world does, it, we should be able to do it too. Think of it, won't it be fun?"

Luka thought about it and nodded. It did sound like fun, just you against the world, working for a living.

And then Gakupo put his arm around her waist and they both sat and looked at the lamp on the bedside table.

"I'm going to beat you to breakfast tomorrow." said Luka, settling in his warm embrace.

"Not on your life, oh merciless fish-wielder." said Gakupo, smiling. Luka's arm slipped around him. And there they sat, in the shadows, talking about the pros and cons of tunas and eggplants for some time more.


	4. Chapter Three

**Author's Note: Well, here's this chapter! A little short, I know, but this is more of a chapter were the problem is introduced than where things develop and stuff happens in general. I AM SO SORRY FOR THE TINY BREAKFAST SCENE! I just sort of thought it wasn't very important for this chapter. The weight lies more around the middle. So... thanks for reading, and I hope that you eeeeenjoy!**

**Disclaimer: NO OWN ME VOCALOID OR NEITHER NOR CHARACTERS IN MR STORY YEAH OR SONGS MENTIONED BECAUSE POTATOOOOES yep. wow that disclaimer made no sense.**

Chapter Three

Luka woke up on bright Wednesday morning, went to the bathroom to wash her face... and threw up.

She didn't know why she did, it just... it was involuntary. Of course, it's always involuntary.

Luka dizzily stood in front of the bathroom mirror and splashed water onto her face.

_Hm... I bet it was the fish. It can have something in it occasionally._

She felt a sudden pain and groaned. She felt warm, so Gakupo...

_Gakupo! _she HAD to get downstairs before him! So Luka thundered down the hallway... and stopped.

_Whoa... I feel... dizzy... _she thought, stumbling to a stop. She walked the rest of the way to the kitchen, and...

Gakupo greeted her with a smile. He was already there. Of COURSE he was.

"Luka! I-" he had raised his hand in a wave, but then he lowered it. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah... why wouldn't I be?" question Luka, then went to the closet to get some pancake mix.

"I... I don't know, you just look sort of sick!" said Gakupo, peeking his head into the closet...

And was instantly greeted with the slap of a fish. "OW!" he rubbed his face.

"That's for calling me ugly!" Luka shouted out of the closet, then came out with some mix. Gakupo shielded himself.

"I'm not going to get you with this!" she shook the box. "Well... unless it's really, really tempting...!"

"Why meee?" whined Gakupo.

"Because it's fun to annoy you."

"Well, you like me!"

*Slap*

Gakupo rubbed his other cheek. "Stop DOING that!" he muttered.

"Not on your life." said Luka, then proceeded to make the pancakes. The batter sizzled in the pan.

"Hey, Luka!" said Gakupo. "Those smell good!"

"Thanks." she said, flipping one. It sizzled and released a delicious aroma into the air.

He stood next to her. Luka, without really meaning to, laid her head on his shoulder. It felt nice. Gakupo wound his arm around her waist.

"Hey," he said, frowning, "You feel sort of hot."

Luka reached out with an unoccupied hand and flipped a pancake lazily. "Well, you're imagining it.

"Is it because... _I'm_ here?" said Gakupo smoothly, grinning.

A pancake landed on his face. He sputtered and stumbled back.

"GAAAH! GET IT OFF GET IT OFF!"

Luka laughed, her voice a little hoarse, but a brilliance behind the laugh, as potent as the sun, shone through.

Gakupo peeled it off and bit into it. "Ew, it's not even fully cooked!" he said, spitting it out.

"You knew that, so then why did you eat it?" said Luka smugly. She turned her attention back to her food.

Gakupo appeared beside her. "You're not being niiice."

Luka lifted another pancake high. "NO! Not... another one!" said Gakupo, holding his hands out in front of him. Luka giggled and flipped it onto the pan.

But inside, she felt a little uneasy. She didn't know what it was, but something felt wrong.

Before long, she was done making breakfast. Everyone came down, and took their plates.

Rin tugged on her sleeve. "Lukaaa, can I have some whipped cream?"

"For waffles?" said Luka, confused, "No way!"

Rin groaned and shuffled away. The twins sure were more quiet in the morning.

Gakupo took his plate, then looked back at her expectantly. "Aren't you coming?"

Luka nodded, took her plate, and followed him out the door.

Luka had a horrible day.

She threw up two more times in the college's bathrooms, getting there just in time.

_Okay, I bet it was the fish! I mean, seriously, why else would this be happening! I swear, that's the last time I get that brand! _she thought, as she came out of the bathroom a second time. She then went to her last class of the day.

The teacher just droned on and on and on, and Luka propped her face up on her hand. It soon slid down, and the world turned into blurry waves.

She suddenly heard a voice.

_Luka... Luka..._

"What?" she mumbled.

_I am... I am your greatest... fear..._

Luka didn't understand. "Wh-what do you mean?"

A horrible image flashed before her eyes. It was... it was...

Gakupo. He was lying on the ground, his mouth streaming with blood. He was torn, torn all over, like a toy that was broken and could never be fixed-

Luka screamed and shot up in her chair, her eyes wide. The entire class looked at her in surprise.

"Luka!" said the professor. "Are you all right?"

Luka nodded and slumped back down. What a horrible dream.

When the day was over, Luka stumbled out of her chair, feeling worse than ever. As she exited, people pointed fingers at her and whispered to each other.

_Let them whisper all they want, _she thought, walking unsteadily down the brightly lit, crowded hallway. _I don't care. I just want to sleep..._

The moving colors of the people in the hallway were making her sick. She burst through the doors, and a cold gust of wind caught her. It wasn't strong, but she stumbled and fell backwards. A group of people trampled her hands.

"Ow... ow...!" Luka said to herself picking herself up. Then, her eyes half closed, the shine in them gone, she went over to the bus stop. Gakupo was already waiting there. He turned to greet her, and then stopped in shock. Luka looked... horrible. Even her usually vibrant hair hung limp, and her tired face shone with sweat.

Gakupo looked it horror. He reached out to her. "Luka! Are you... are you all right?"

And Luka didn't answer. Not with words, anyway.

Her eyes, dull, rolled up as her eyelids fluttered shut and she collapsed into Gakupo's arms.

Lily ran up. "What happened?" she said.

Gakupo shook Luka frantically. "I don't know, she just walked here and collapsed!

Lily knelt and laid her hand on Luka's forehead. "Oh no, this isn't good. Where's the us driver? We need to go home. NOW."

All the Vocaloids waited anxiously outside Luka's door, fidgeting nervously.

Hiro was with them, pacing. And Gakupo...

Gakupo was just standing, shocked. He looked exhausted and sad, and he didn't know what was wrong.

Luka hadn't woken up on the bus. She had just kept on being warm and breathing hard. Her heart had beat fast, but she wasn't awake.

Rin and Len were silent, waiting for the doctor to come out. Even they made no comment about Al's hair gel on the way home.

And then they all heard footsteps and the door opened. The doctor stood there. In the background, Luka was still sleeping, if you could call it that. Sweat rolled down her face and she breathed like she had a thousand-pound weight on her chest. Gakupo looked over his shoulder, but the doctor shut the door behind him. He looked towards the Vocaloids, at their weary faces, and sighed.

"Oh no. He sighed. Why did you sigh?" said Miku.

"Because I am afraid that we can't cure your friend." said the doctor. "The disease that she carries is one unknown to me."

"What?" said Kaito, shocked.

"So... what will happen?" said Hiro.

Gakupo bit his lip. He knew what was coming.

The doctor laid down his pad. He had written nothing on it. Which could only mean one thing.

"One month... two tops." he said.

"Wh-what?" said Hiro. "But... isn't there anything that we can do? Look into the disease?"

"Nothing." said the doctor. "It's slowly creeping across her body, causing random damage. Eventually, it will get to her heart from the edges of her body... and she will die."

He looked around at all the shocked face. "I am very sorry, I really am. It is not contagious, so you should not worry. It will all be over soon-"

And suddenly the doctor was against the wall, a hand at his throat holding him aloft.

"IT WILL ALL BE OVER SOON?" snarled and enraged Gakupo. Hiro reached forward.

"Let... go..." the doctor choked out.

Gakupo's eye twitched. "I WILL worry, even if it's not contagious. WHO CARES? I WILL MAKE SURE LUKA LIVES! AND YOU MUST HELP!"

Hiro pulled Gakupo away, and the doctor slid down. "GAKUPO, CONTROL YOURSELF!" he shouted.

The doctor dusted himself off. "Well, I think that I will take my leave now! Good day to you all!" he said, and then left.

Everyone immediately rushed into the room. Luka lay there. Gakupo was the first to her side. He took her hand. It shook in his.

"Luka!" he said. His eyes glistened with forming tears.

Luka's eyes fluttered once, then opened a crack. "Ga...kupo...?"

"Yes, it's... it's me." he said, and put his other hand on Luka's as well.

"I'm s-s-sorry," she said, stuttering.

"Don't be." whispered Gakupo. _She's so weak... _thought Gakupo. _It's hopless._

BRS stood behind them all, deep in thought. Only Haku noticed this.

"Gakupo." said Luka, a slight smile surfacing on her face. "It doesn't matter that I'm not going to..." she breathed in hard. Her eyes closed, but then, with much effort, she opened them again. "Not going to... see us both grow up... and face the world..."

"No!" said Gakupo, squeezing his eyes shut. Tears trickled out. "Don't talk like that! It's going to be fine!"

Luka's head turned to one side. "You are always... always so stubborn..."

"Luka...!" Gakupo whispered hoarsely.

"I'm afraid I won't be making breakfast with you from now on." she said.

Gakupo shook her. "No, you're already giving up! You should fight!"

Luka's hand then went limp. Her chest still rose and fell in abrupt, unnatural timing. Small fragments of her voice were heard every time air entered and left her body. Her face was red.

"Guys?" said BRS, stepping forward. "I have an idea."

Everyone turned hopefully, and she held up her hands. "Don't get your hopes up, I don't know if this will work! So... just listen!"

Everyone listened.

"So, back when me and Haku were on the streets, I met this girl...


	5. Chapter Four

**Author's Note: Well, here's this chapter! I don't have much to say this time... so I'll just say, I hope you enjoy my story! Here you go... chapter four!**

**: I don't own vooooooooooocaloid or cryyyyyyyyyyyyyyyptin or the chaaaaaaaaaaaaracters in this faaaaaaaaaaaaanfic. The End. Pum Pum Pummm.**

Chapter Four

Then men sat at the big, round table. One was at the head, and another at the other end. All the others were around the man at the head.

"So?" said the man at the other end of the table, shrouded in darkness. "What's your final decision?"

The men at the head of the table muttered into each other's ears. Finally, the head man held up his hand and the talking ceased.

"It has been decided." he said, lowering his hand. "You have permission to continue."

The other man gave a small bow of gratitude. "Thank you, sir." he said. "I will not let you down!"

It should come as no surprise to anyone that none of the Vocaloids went to school _or_ college the next day, Thursday.

Instead, they waited. All their hopes rested on BRS's back now, it was up to her to see if anything could be done.

BRS had walked up in front of all of them the night before and told them about someone she knew from her time in the streets.

"I met her one day when Haku was sick. She was actually a Vocaloid that Ata Udne had captured, but then she escaped... _with _her amulet!"

"That's amazing!" said Miku. Al nodded in agreement.

"But... how does that help... her?" said Gakupo, lightly stroking Luka's pale cheek. He could not tear his eyes away from her closed eyes.

BRS suddenly realized that she'd been holding her breath. She let it out and said, "Well, her power is quite different from most of ours. She is sort of... a medic. She can cure most things that are wrong with Vocaloids, and recognize them with some sort of special... scanny thingy."

"This... scanny thingy, as you put it." said Lily. "Will it... see what Luka has?"

BRS just shrugged. Hiro stood up.

"Well, we really have nothing to lose. BRS, can you find her again?"

BRS nodded.

"Hey... what's her name? You never said it!" said Ann.

BRS looked up. "Her name is... Gumi."

BRS walked through an alley. Cars beeped on the street beside it.

_I know her "office" was around here somewhere..._ she thought. _I hope she hasn't moved it, it would break Gakupo's heart! And Luka's too, literally, I guess._

She approached the small shack that she had seen only a few times before. A sign hung on the door, saying only "Gumi's services."

BRS knocked on the splintery wooden door. "Hello-"

A hand shot out and pulled her in. BRS yelped and crashed onto the floor. A figure stood over her, pointing something menacing-looking at her head. The stranger stood wrapped in the shadows and was a silhouette because of the many cracks in the little shack.

"Who are you and what do you want?" the person said coldly.

"Whoa, take it easy!" said BRS, shielding herself with her black gloved hands.

The person leaned down, surprised. She had bright green hair and a pair of red goggles rested crookedly on her head. "Black Rock Shooter? Hey, it's you! Sorry!"

The person that BRS now knew was Gumi stood up straight and offered one of her hands. BRS latched hers onto it and pulled herself up.

"Really!" said BRS, dusting herself off.

"Sorry!" said Gumi, sheepishly, "I'm just pretty... er, suspicious of people."

"Yeah. I've noticed." BRS grumbled. Then, she remembered her business with Gumi.

"So, Gumi..." she started. Gumi raised her eyebrows and listened.

"Right now, I don't live in the street anymore."

Gumi's eyebrows shot up even further. "Whoa, really? Congratulations! Who's the lucky guy?"

"Gumi!" said BRS. "Are you serious? It hasn't been THAT long since we last saw each other!"

"Oh." said Gumi. "Sorry. So... where?"

"A mansion where a bunch of other Vocaloids live."

"An _orphanage_, you mean?" scoffed Gumi, crossing her arms.

"No, it's not like that!" said BRS. "It's much more!"

"So." said Gumi. "Why did you come back? I'm pretty sure that your intentions are more than just saying hi to an old friend."

BRS blushed. "Well... yes." she said. "Someone in Vocaloid mansion is really sick, and no one can figure out why she is, not even the doctor!"

"And? So why should I help her?" said Gumi.

The question caught BRS by surprise. "Wh...what do you mean?"

"You heard me. What do I gain from this?" said Gumi. "I have many things to do, why should I waste my time?"

BRS was shocked. "Gumi!" she said. "How could you say such a thing?"

Gumi turned. BRS could no longer see her face. "Give me a good reason, Black Rock Shooter. I am not one to do favors for free. I have to live somehow too, you know."

"Oh, but we could pay you!" said BRS.

"I don't want your money." said Gumi. "I only cure when I believe in the reason. Now tell me, or I will leave. I have other matters to attend to."

BRS's anger flared up, but then she cooled it.

_Keep a level head. Now, what can I tell her?_

BRS sat down. So did Gumi.

"Well, the sick person... is called Luka. Luka Megurine. She didn't seem sick before, but she just randomly collapsed when..."

Gumi looked utterly bored, her chin rested on her hand.

_To the heck with it all. _thought BRS.

She stood up briskly and slapped her hand onto a table. Then, she leaned over Gumi, who was looking very surprised.

"Luka and another Vocaloid have been in love for some years now. His name is Gakupo Kamui, and he loves her to the extent that he has gone down to help her make breakfast every time he can. When he was taken and almost killed, Luka ran after him and saved him. You should have seen her as she cradled his unmoving body, when his heart stopped beating... only a small hint of what would happen if he died!"

BRS leaned closer into Gumi's shocked face.

"Now, Luka is in bed, unable to stand, and Gakupo _will not leave her side. _He has stayed there taking care of her, even though the doctor has said that she has to months, maximum, to live.

BRS then bared her teeth.

"And you intend to sit here and do _NOTHING? _You, with the power in your hands, the only one who can possible save her? Unbelievable! What kind of a person ARE you?"

BRS turned in disgust, crossing her arms. Gumi looked after her. Then, suddenly, BRS was surprised to find a hand on her shoulder. She turned.

"I will look at your... Luka." she said, trying to remain normal though clearly rocked by BRS's furious outburst. "And I will decide what to do. Okay?"

BRS smiled. "Yeah. That'll be okay."

Gakupo sat by Luka's bed. Her eyes fluttered open once more, and gasped, her throat raspy and hoarse. "Water..." she whispered.

Gakupo gently lifted her head up and tipped water into her mouth, making sure to do it slowly. Then, he set her head back down, and it sank back into the pillow.

"Thank you... Gakupo..." she said. "Hey... who made breakfast... today?"

Gakupo smiled. "It was Hiro." he said.

"I bet my cooking is... still better than any... of yours..." she choked out.

_Yeah. Still the same old Luka._ thought Gakupo, and grinned warmly.

"Always." he said and held her hand.

Akita ran in and handed him a wet towel. Gakupo gently took the dripping cloth from her and laid it on Luka's head. Then, Akita ran out again, pausing only to shoot a sad look at the two of them.

Luka sighed as the wet cloth touched her burning forehead. "That feels... nice..." she breathed in and out heavily, then gasped in pain.

"What's wrong?" said Gakupo, worried.

"M-m-my throat... it burns..." said Luka, gasping again, her back arching a little. Gakupo leaned down and wrapped his arms around her. Luka turned her head a little and saw Gakupo's purple hair, and gave a weak smile. A warmth flooded her, and the pain ceased.

Gakupo gently lain her down again and pulled the covers over her.

And then, suddenly, the door opened. It was Hiro, and he led BRS and a stranger in.

"Gakupo, Luka, this is Gumi." said BRS, pointing at her.

Gakupo immediately stood up to give her room as Gumi rounded the bed corner and sat down in Gakupo's chair. She leaned over Luka, looking at her.

Gumi then wiped the wet cloth on Luka's forehead onto the rest of Luka's face, and then set it beside her, on the bedside table. "Let me see what's wrong here." she said, and then snapped her goggles onto her eyes.

"Is... is this safe?" Gakupo asked BRS.

"Oh, yes. Gumi is amazing at this, you just watch!" BRS responded, sounding sure.

Gakupo turned to look as Gumi's goggles glowed bright red. Gumi then slowly looked up and down Luka's body. Then, when about five minutes had passed, the light in her goggles faded and she pushed them back up into her hair.

By this time, all the other Vocaloids had gathered.

Miku stepped forward, eager. "So?" she asked. "What's wrong? Can you do anything about it?"

Gumi leaned back, then looked at Hiro. "My good sir." she said. "I believe that you have something to tell them. It's only fair."

"What are you talking about?" Hiro asked, confused.

"Well. It seems you really don't know." said Gumi. "Okay. I'll tell you what your friend here has."

She stood. "She has a strange virus called SE-HA. I bet your little doctor already told you what it does. It does random damage, shutting things down and breaking things, until it reaches the heart, and makes it stop. There is only one cure, and it is not very easy to find. The cure would reverse all the bad effects of the virus and eradicate it completely."

Gumi then turned to face Hiro. "I have only seen this virus once." she said quietly, gazing at Hiro. "Do you know where?"

Hiro shook his head, confused. "No, I've never even heard of it... why?"

"I'll tell you where I saw it." said Gumi. "I saw it... on a little "excursion" into Cryptin, spying."

A silence fell throughout the room. Hiro's eyes widened slightly.

"It can only be put into Vocaloids. The reason it is not contagious is not because it is inside the body and not outside like your doctor thinks, but because it has to be designed for one specific person. Which happens to be... _her._" she gestured towards Luka.

Everyone turned to look at Hiro. Had Hiro known about the virus?

"Now, is there something you would like to tell them, Hiro?" said Gumi smugly.

Hiro looked down. "Yes." he said, sadly. "Yes there is."

All the Vocaloids looked at each other in shock. Had Hiro... had he betrayed them?

"I have received news... that Cryptin is coming back as a division of the government. But they have their own intentions in mind."

"Wait... so you didn't know about the virus, right?" said Meiko.

"Heavens, no!" said Hiro. "Why would I keep something like that from you?"

Gakupo interrupted. "Well... how do we get to the cure?"

"There is only one way." said Gumi, straightening her orange outfit. She pointed at them as a whole. "You must fight your way into Cryptin's headquarters and steal the cure!"

Everyone stared at her in shock.

"Steal it?" asked Kaito. "Couldn't we just ask the government?"

"Yeah!" said Rin, crossing her arms. "We would be breaking the law!"

Len and Rin suddenly looked at each other.

"On second thought." said Len, "I'm on goggle lady's side!"

"Goggle lady?" seethed Gumi as Mikuo stepped forward.

"Yeah!" said Mikuo. "Why?"

"Because." said Gumi. "The government doesn't know that you are Cryptin's creations. They would take you away and experiment on you. Does that answer your question?"

The room became silent again. Then, Len spoke.

"Like... in the movies?" he said, then turned red as he realized how stupid he'd sounded.

"Yes." said Gumi. "Just like that." She turned to them. "We need a small group of powerful fighters. Who's up? Volunteers?"

Gakupo was the first to step forward. "I will." he said. He looked at Luka, who gazing upon the scene unfolding before the foot of her bed with tired eyes.

"No, Gakupo..." said Luka. "Don't l-leave me... don't leave me again...!"

"I'm sorry, Luka, it's for your own good." Luka just lay in bed, an utterly heartbroken look on her face.

"I will go too!" said Miku, stepping forward.

"If Miku's going, I'm going!" said Al, stepping forward.

"So will we!" said the Kagamine twins, Rin and Len.

Eventually, after a while, everyone had volunteered. Even Mikuo, and he hadn't had a chance to use his amulet yet.

"Well. All you are very confident, I'll give you that." said Gumi. "But it is no easy task, and It will be hard."

"We don't care!" said Ann. "We fight for Luka!"

"YEAH!" said all the other Vocaloids, and pumped their fists in the air. Hiro looked at Gumi.

"Fine." she said. "Anyway, I have to go. All I can offer to you is this map." she laid it on the table. "Goodbye. BRS, come visit me again soon. It was fun." she gave a little sly smile and a wave, and left.

"I don't like her." Akita pouted.

"Well, she's helping us, and we should appreciate that!" said Miku.

Al turned to everyone. "Everyone, get ready! We will leave... well, I'm guessing tomorrow! Get a good night's sleep, prepare all your equipment for the morning!"

Everyone cheered and went out the door... except for Gakupo. He went to Luka's side.

"Gakupo...!" she whispered, tears leaking out of the corners of her eyes and joining the beads of sweat on her face. "You promised to be... careful...!"

"Don't worry. I will be." said Gakupo. He leaned down and kiss her forehead. "Now sleep." he said. "This'll be over before you know it!" Then, he looked into her eyes one last time and walked out after the others.

Luka lay on her bed. And as bad as her body felt, her heart felt worse, and she knew inside that Gakupo would not come home unscathed.

If he ever did come home at all.


	6. Chapter Five

**Author's Note: Well, this is the first chapter in this book that actually took me more that one day to write! It wasn't because it was hard to write, really... just because of a staggering amount of homework that I received! Ugh. You know what? I DON'T EVEN WANNA TALK ABOUT IT. =(**

**Anyway, hope you enjoy chapter five!**

**Disclamer: I DON'T OWN CRYPTON (cryptin... hehe...) OR VOCALOID OR THE LIL CHARACTERS IN THIS FANFIC. THANK YOU, THANK YOU VERY MUCH!**

**Wait. Elvis?**

**Ew! But I hate Elvis!**

Chapter Five

Gakupo woke up in his bed Friday morning and remembered that he didn't have to beat Luka to breakfast.

The thought made him sad. But then, he brightened.

_Today is the day! The day that we take Luka's cure by force from that horrid place... Cryptin's headquarters..._

He stood and went to the bathroom to wash his face. Then, he decided to get ready. He glanced at his purple amulet, lying at his bedside. He then scooped it up, and the jewel in the middle shimmered upon making contact with his hand.

Gakupo closed his fist aorund it. Today would be the first time he used it in combat. Oh, how he wished that Luka would be there with him to laugh at his eggplant nunchuks...

He shook his head and cleared the thought from it. Luka was sick, and he was going to cure her. The end.

Al knocked on the door. "Hey, Gakupo!" he called. "Get ready, we're leaving in half an hour!"

"Okay!" said Gakupo. He stepped out and closed the door gently behind him. Al was already going down the stair.

_I'll go visit Luka one last time. _he thought. He tiptoed to her room and opened the door.

Luka was asleep. She was breathing hard, struggling, and her cheeks were lit up pink, rosy from the fever. He strode to her bedside.

Even in this state, the weary sleeping face was like one of an angel. He leaned pver and kissed Luka gently on the lips, as to not wake her up, and straightened up again.

Giving her one last look, he walked out the door.

Gakupo went down the stairs to find everyone already ready.

"Well, we might as well just go now." said BRS. "There really is no difference."

Everyone else agreed, so they went out the door and stood outside. Their bus waited.

"Who's gonna drive?" Al asked.

"Hey, how 'bout me?" said BRS, pointing at herself with one hand and flashing a thumbs up with the other.

"NO!" said everyone at once.

"Sheesh!" said BRS, pouting. "I'm not that bad!"

Lily walked up. "Yes you are. I'll drive." she said, and walked up to the bus. She slid the door open and climbed inside. "Everyone, c'mon!"

All the Vocaloids present clambered into the bus.

Rin sighed. "We're just going to barge in there, aren't we?"

Meiko nodded. "The Akuyami tower? Yes. There's no way to sneak in, sooo..."

"Aw, maaan...!" Len moaned.

"What? Are you chicken?" said Miku teasingly.

"NO!" said Len.

"Well then, prove it." said Kaito smugly.

The twins grumbled and settled down.

Lily started the engine. And then her eyes gleamed...

"This is such a nice bus..." she crooned. "I wonder how fast this baby can go...!"

"Oh no." groaned Akita. She curled up on her seat.

"What?" said Mikuo, who had never had bad experiences with over-excited drivers.

"Just hold on." said Haku, and braced herself.

"Hold on? Hold on to whaaaaaaaa...!"

Lily screeched out into the road, the bus tipping to one side for a second with the momentum. Everyone screamed.

"Lily, calm down!" shouted Meiko.

Lily was to busy cackling with glee to notice. Cars beeped and honked outside.

Gakupo sat in his seat, holding on. He didn't really mind the rough trip, as long as he got there sooner.

Eventually, the bus slowed to a stop. Most of the people on the bus were green.

Lily loosened her grip on the steering wheel. "Well, that was fun!" she said. "Right?"

"Urgh...!" groaned Mikuo, clutching his stomach. Haku patted him on the top of his head.

Only Gakupo seemed unswayed by the reckless driving. "Let's go, we have a Luka to save!" he said, and bounded out. Everyone followed him, swaying on their feet.

They were parked in the back of the building next to the Akuyami tower.

"Well, this is it." said Miku, gulping. "Everyone... power up!"

Everyone powered up, wings and various other things sprouting from them. Mikuo looked down at himself, and saw that he had the same power as Miku.

"Copycat!" grumbled Miku, and _humphed._ Mikuo grinned.

"Whohohoa!" he said. "Cool!"

"Now, everyone!" said Gakupo. "Let's go in there and find a cure!" he grinned in confidence.

"At least one of us is eager." said Akita, sighing. Lily pinched her and she straightened up.

Gakupo turned towards the big building. This was certainly bigger than the Sutin building, a real skyscraper. If someone fell off THIS one with no wings...

Gakupo took a deep breath and let it out. No, he wouldn't be falling off any building. He had promised Luka. He'd promised her.

Everyone walked to the front door. They all were tensed, and ready for battle. Their minds were focused on only one thing. Taking the building by force.

And then Gakupo kicked the door down and yelled, "CHARGE!"

Luka lay on her bed, her lungs struggling. She felt horrible.

_Gakupo, you idiot! _she thought. _Why do you have to do this to me, every time? Can't we just be together for once? Without one of us going out and getting hurt?_

She turned her head, and saw an odd shape on her bedside table. Luka squinted her eyes, and eventually managed to focus on the item

It was a single eggplant, with a heart carved into it.

Luka smiled in spite of her anger, and reached out weakly to take the eggplant. She wrapped her fingers around it, but could not grip it and lift it. It was much too tiring.

So Luka just watched the eggplant, thinking of Gakupo.

_Come back soon, Gakupo...! _she thought. _I don't know what I would do without you..._

What happened at Akuyami tower was the bloodiest and toughest battle the Vocaloids had ever had. The fighting raged on and on and on.

When they had all crashed through the windows of the building's first floor, wings shielding them from showers of glass, they had been instantly greeted by what was practically an army of guards.

The guards were armed with strange weapons, guns and knives and shooty... thingies, and they were all pointed at the intruders once they entered.

Ann had whispered a single "Uh-oh." when the entire army let loose on them a storm of bullets, lasers, and other sharp things.

A bullet shot past Miku's face, scraping it slightly. She shouted, "Why you...!" and dove into the crowd of guards. She kicked upwards, and her jagged knives sliced through the air. Mikuo was instantly at her side, and their blades worked in tandem as they whistled relentlessly through the air.

Kaito slid around the perimeter on a slide of glistening ice, and shot more from his hands. He encased many guards with ice like shimmering crystals, but more just kept coming and coming.

"Why are there so many?" he called over the ruckus, freezing a nearby guard's gun and kicking it. It exploded into fragments, and the guard fell back.

"This is a top secret place, that's why!" said Al, kicking up. His tires whirled through the air and carved deep holes into the ground. He left skid marks on the ground and on the guard's armor.

Ann just swung her sword wildly, toppling furniture and upending tables with her glowing golden weapon. In this way, she held the guards at bay.

But the most ferocious one of all was, of course, Gakupo. His nunchuks spun wildly around his hands as he darted forward, swift like a snake. The ends of his weapon thunked into his attacker's heads, and they all immediately collapsed onto the ground.

And they all kept fighting. The night was pierced with sound of scraping, and screaming, and things collapsing, only interrupted by Akita's deadly howls, which echoed around them all and egged on their ferocity.

"Hey!" called Miku, slashing a guard that threw himself onto her. "Who's going to go get the cure?"

"I can go!" shouted Gakupo, dodging another guard and kicking him.

"No." said BRS. "You're too valuable of a fighter..."

"We must decide quickly," said Haku calmly as she threw a fireball of darkness at an attacker. "Before they notice what our intentions are."

"Erm... said Meiko, blowing some gas into a crowd of guards, who stumbled back, dazed. "How about Rin and Len?"

"Yeah, great idea!" said BRS. "RIN! LEN!"

The twins jumped to BRS's side. "Yeah?"

"We need you to go retrieve the cure." said Miku, and crammed the crumpled map that Gumi had given them into Rin's hand. "Hurry, we're counting on you!"

"Yes, sir!" they both said, saluting, and bolted out unseen.

They dashed to the stairs, and started clambering up. Soon, they were huffing with exhaustion.

"Why couldn't we have taken the elevator?" whined Len.

"You're SO STUPID! They could just stop the elevator and trap us there if they see us! Which they would because there happens to be a CAMERA in the ELEVATOR!"

"Fine, fine!" said Len, dropping onto all fours. "But I'm not happy about it!"

"And you think I am?" said Rin, as they got to the sixth floor.

Len frowned and let out another huge breath. "So, where is this cure thing?"

"According to the map, it's on the 19th floor, so get a move on!" said Rin.

Len groaned. "Ughhhhhhhh, thirteen more floor... I can't take it anymore...!"

"You are SO LAZY!" said Rin, irritated. "Think of how Luka has it right now! I bet she feels way worse than both of us _combined_!"

"True, true." said Len, and they trudged on.

The very large scuffle continued below the twins. Everyone was doing fine...

Until suddenly, another huge wave of guards streamed out of a door.

"Gah! They just keep coming!" said Miku, blocking her face as a shower of bullets sprayed towards her direction.

Gakupo stumbled back as a guard punched him in the stomach. His breath left him, and he doubled over as a knife whistled over his head. A single purple hair, still floating above him, was sliced off.

"Ow!" he said.

"I thought that you don't have nerves in you hair." said Al, screeching to a stop beside him.

"I wasn't planning for a haircut today." grumbled Gakupo, and ducked as a knife streaked past him. Al stared as the knife went towards him...

And then a giant shield of ice blossomed before him, just in time.

"Thanks, Kaito!" called Al, starting his wheels again.

"Don't mention it!" Kaito called back to him.

"Uh... Miku?" said Mikuo. "I hate to break it to ya... but I think we're losing."

It was true. They were vastly outnumbered, injured, and probably couldn't hold up the attack much longer.

"We just have to keep this up until the twins get the cure. They'll fly out the window upstairs and come in through the front door again. Then, we'll all escape. Easy!" said Miku.

Mikuo looked up at the ceiling. _Hurry up, you guys...!_ he thought, and then turned his attention back to the battle.

Rin and Len were both out of breath... and on the seventeenth floor!

"Almost there...!" Len grunted, dragging his legs up the stairs.

"Just a... little more...!" huffed Rin, passing him. She climbed, struggling.

And then, they were on the eighteenth floor. Their faces were red and damp, and their shirts also wet.

And soon after, they collapsed onto the blessed nineteenth floor.

"Yes...!" said Rin flopping onto her back. But Len stood up again, immediately.

"Let's hurry!" he said, and ran off into the lab that awaited them.

Rin groaned, peeled herself off the ground, and followed him.

They both stepped into a huge laboratory.

Lights on the walls shone and flickered with different colors. Levers were all over the room, set in various positions, and glass buttons stood in some areas of the room. Some were lit, some were not.

Beeps were heard all over the place, joined with the sound of static and whirring. It was an incredible place.

"Okay, let's start looking!" said Rin. "Anything with SE-HA printed on it or something!"

Len immediately bolted towards a table. There were files waiting on it. Rin, meanwhile, went over to a cabinet and pulled it open.

Len rifled through the papers. "Here!" he called to Rin. "SE-HA!"

Rin dashed over. "So, what does the file say?" she said.

Len started to open it. "Well, it says-"

Suddenly, a wailing siren was heard. The whole room flashed red.

Rin and Len covered their ears, trying to block out the deafening noise.

"We must have set off an alarm!" Rin shouted.

"But why?" Len shouted back.

"Anyway, that doesn't matter now!" he continued. "We have to find an exit!"

"Right!" said Rin. Suddenly, as she said that, metal gate slammed down over the doors they'd come in by.

"Oh no! We're trapped!" said Len.

The noise and lights suddenly ceased. The twins waited, tense.

Suddenly, they heard a strange whirring noise, and their bodies tingled.

"Wh-what's going on?" Rin stuttered...

And then they automatically powered down and collapsed.

"Hello." said a voice. Rin and Len struggled to get up, and couldn't. They were as if magnetized to the floor.

"You're right. You are, in fact, trapped. It was easy to lure you into the trap, easy as luring flies to a light. And you are like flies, you and your pathetic friends down there. Pesky and annoying."

The twins looked up. The man standing over them leaned down, his face catching the light. It was a man with an intelligent looking face, and square glasses. He pushed the glasses up his nose with one finger.

"But now, you are in your rightful place, where you should be."

He then smiled.

"At my feet."

He then straightened up again and walked to a table. And then he opened a drawer and took out what looked like some sort of mechanical handcuffs.

The twins struggled against the strange magnetic power sticking them to the floor as the handcuffs closed around their wrists with a hum and a whirr.

"My name is Ocidem Teyni, head scientist at this fine establishment, Cryptin. Nice to meet you."


	7. Chapter Six

**Author's Note: Well, hello there! I come to you, my readers, with two things: One, this chapter. Two... a request! PLEASE REVIEW! Even if you don't have much to say, if you are a reader it warms my heart just to know that you saw my story! Please, the story is reaching the climax and i need some confidence!**

**Disclaimer: I DO NOT OWN CRYPTON/CRYPTIN, VOCALOID, OR THE CHARACTERS IN THIS. OR THE WORLD. Wouldn't that be AWESOME, though? I would dye it pink and purple.**

Chapter Six

The twins hadn't come down yet.

In fact, it had been quite a while since they'd been sent up to retrieve the cure.

And the truth was, as strong as they all were, they were starting to lose the battle. There were only a few of them, but the guards kept coming, like teeth growing back in the mouth of a ferocious shark.

"Miku!" shouted BRS, dodging yet another attack. "What are we going to do?"

Miku paused for a second and then looked down. Her hands tightened into fists.

"We have to assume the worst." she said loudly so everyone could hear her. "The twins have been captured!"

All the Vocaloids fighting gasped. "Well, this complicates things." grumbled Al.

"We have to go save them!" cried Ann.

"Agreed." said Haku, stepping up beside Miku. "We're going to have to get up to the nineteenth floor.

"But how?" asked Gakupo, desperate. "We can't stretch our wings on the stairs...!"

"I have an idea!" said Meiko, brightening.

And everyone turned to face her.

Rin and Len sat bound in a metal cage, with strange-looking blinking locks. There were big, heavy metal gags that covered their mouths and noses. While they gave the twins air, they also took away their ability to speak.

The head scientist of Cryptin, Ocidem Teyni, sat contentedly on a swivel chair. In front of him were a number of screens, the battle raging downstairs from different views.

Ocidem chucked and stood. "It's hopeless, you know." he said, pushing his square glasses up the bridge of his nose again. "They're going to come up here... and poof! Just like that, their powers will be gone."

Then, he snickered. "Not that you even had a chance in the first place. While Gumi was smart, she wasn't enough."

The twins' eyes widened. Ocidem saw their surprised expressions.

"Oh, surprised?" he said. "Well, don't be. We've been keeping tabs on her, and all of you, even when our company was shut down. So we know that she told you that the virus within Model 03... I believe you call it "Luka", was SE-HA."

The twins waited in silence.

"Well, she was wrong. She hasn't been around here for a while. That's how we knew to rig the SE-HA file. Stupid little children, rushing in to save your dear, dear friend.

He turned to a screen that showed Gakupo, and traced his finger down the side. "Especially him... Model E, or "Gakupo", as you call him. Yes, he seems quite interested in Luka... that incident at the Sutin building was especially impressive."

He turned to them. "Yes, I know about that, by the way. Here, we know everything about you."

He turned back to the screen showing Gakupo.

"It's a shame he'll never see his little lover again." he said, smirking, and then threw back his head and laughed wildly as he exited the room.

_He's... he's a madman! _thought Rin.

_Tell me about it._

Rin jumped. Where had that voice come from.

_Wait a minute... Rin?_

And then Rin recognized the voice in her mind. _Len?_

They turned to each other, proof that they weren't imagining the communication.

_Whoa, cool! _thought Len. They both turned back away from each other.

_I hope everyone is all right..._ thought Rin. Len was silent.

Because they both knew that it wouldn't be all right.

All the Vocaloids soared up the side of the towering skyscraper.

"The nineteenth floor should be around here!" shouted Miku over the rushing wind, her eyes scanning the side of the building.

Gakupo lagged behind them a little, deep in thought.

_Luka... _he thought. _I... I told you I'd be careful... and I promised._

He blinked and then looked down in sadness.. _I'm sorry, Luka, but that's one promise that I'll have to break. _He caught up to the rest of the Vocaloids.

_But this is for you. All of it. And when I get back with the cure, and you're healthy with your cheeks rosy from happiness, not fever, I will go down to the kitchen and help you make the most wonderful pancakes that we've ever tasted in our lives. You just wait._

But what Gakupo didn't know-

Was that Luka heard. She heard every word that he was saying.

Gakupo had inadvertently made a telepathic connection, just like the with the newfound powers of the Kagamine twins.

Luka lay in her bed in her dark, dark room. She heard Gakupo's voice say those words to her.

She lay startled for a second, before her mind took off.

_Was that real?_ she thought. _Was that really... Gakupo?_

Suddenly, a sense of horror lit up her mind.

_Gakupo! Gakupo, no, come back! Please! Don't leave me!_

But no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't respond. The bond that two Vocaloid lovers share, no matter how strong, was far from the bond that twins shared.

Though Luka didn't know this, the only reason the words had come through was because though Gakupo's mind had meant it as a promise of love and assurance... Luka's mind had registered it as a final goodbye.

Finally, the Vocaloids were hovering beside the window of floor nineteen.

"Ann!" called Gakupo, turning. "Kill the window!"

"With pleasure!" she said, and swung her golden sword up. It glistened in the sunlight for a moment before coming whistling down. The glass shattered, and like drops of water the shards leapt into the air.

Everyone streamed in and stood in the lab.

And immediately, they saw the Kagamine twins, Rin and Len, in a cage hung from a mechanical pulley system, dangling slightly above them.

And that's when all their amulets dimmed, and their powers shut down.

"No!" cried Meiko, as the tubes along her arms slowly dissolved back into her skin.

And then they started to be dragged towards the floor.

But Miku had had enough. "FIGHT IT!" she screamed. And then, with the last of her knives which were slowly disappearing, she thrust herself at the floor. The knife stuck and then disappeared, and the floor crackled with electricity that soon faded.

The pull was gone.

And then a man walked into the room, a man with a lab coat and square glasses, looking very displeased.t

"I see you've chosen to do this the hard way." he said. "Shame. I wanted to have some undamaged specimens for the research. But, it seems that that's no longer a possibility."

He pushed his glasses up. "Unless...?"

"Forget it!" shouted Gakupo. "We will NEVER surrender! NEVER!"

"Well. Then, I'm sorry." said the scientist.

But the grin on his face told another story. A story of bloodthirstiness and sadism.

And that's when he took a group of about twenty guards streamed out from two hatches in the floor. They filled the room.

"As you can see," said Ocidem. "You are outnumbered. Surrender now. I want you undamaged for shipment and studies."

"No! Gakupo is right, we'll never give up!" said BRS.

Ocidem shook his head. "Tsk, tsk, tsk. You children never learn, do you?"

He walked over to a lever on the wall and wrapped his hand around the handle, and pulled it. The floor under Rin and Len's cage turned horribly spiky, with some spikes as tall as the Vocaloids themeselves. Rin and Len hugged each other and whimpered.

"Now, surrender and let me put you in your cages or you watch your two friends fall to their deaths."

"You... you wouldn't!" said Mikuo, fists clenching by his sides. Haku walked up next to him and leaned against him, and his fists loosened.

"Oh, believe me, I would." said Ocidem. "What's two less if I've still got all of you?"

They all stood in silence.

And then Miku raised her hands in the air.

Lily followed.

Al was next.

One by one, their hands went up in defeat.

And then, finally, the last one to surrender put his hands up.

Gakupo.

Ocidem laughed. "Good. Very good." he said. Then he turned and started walking towards the door... and stopped.

"Oh, and, guards? Cuff them. Cuff them now."

And the Vocaloids all crowded together, back to back to back, as the guards all rushed forward to smother their voices with metal gags.

Gumi sat in her shack. Her foot twitched.

She was ashamed with herself.

Gumi laid her head in her hands.

_What have I done?_ she thought. _I... I didn't even offer to help. I just pushed a diagnosis of their friend and a map at them. Why did I do that?_

She leaned back in her chair, and pulled her legs off the table where they were resting.

_Cryptin headquarters, last time I was there, was a dangerous, dangerous place. It was full of guards and dangerous traps. Why the HECK did I just leave them there?_

And then she stood. _Well, there's no way I'm just going to sit here now. They need me!_

She looked through a crack in the shack. It was getting late.

_Well,_ she thought. _Actually, I really hope that they don't need me!_

And with that, she went over to a drawer and drew out a gun. She then pushed it into her hand and it gave a satisfying _click_ as the safety was released.

_But you never know._ She thought, and with that she ran out of her little office.

Gumi burst into Vocaloid Mansion. Hiro peeked around the corner.

"Oh, why hello there, Gumi! I was just-"

"No time for chatter!" said Gumi. "Did they leave yet?"

"Oh yes, a while ago!" said Hiro, wiping his hand with a small towel.

"That's all I need to know." said Gumi, and ran back out.

"Huh." said Hiro. "So she finally decided that she wanted to help. Good for her."

Then, he set the towel on a shelf and went upstairs.

Luka's temperature had gone up.

The Vocaloids dangled from the ceiling in their cages, humble with the horrible weight of defeat.

Before leaving, Ocidem had turned almost the entire floor into spikes, leaving only a path for him to walk.

Gakupo sat alone in his cage. The same two words kept running through his head.

_I've failed._

The words echoed and burned and stung inside him. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out the horrible realization.

Ann sat huddled in her cage.

_What happened? _she thought miserably. _Why did we fail? _

They had been there for three hours, and couldn't talk to each other. The most they could do is shoot tired expressions at each other.

And then, to make matters worse, Ocidem walked in to gloat.

"Vocaloids." he said, pushing his glasses up yet again.

"I just wanted to show you how stupid you all were."

He walked over to a strange dashboard with a screen over it. Then, when he tapped a button, the screen sprang to life.

It showed Luka's outline with all her organs and her body's system in it.

Gakupo gasped. _There's no doubt about it,_ he thought. _that's Luka!_

"We, Cryptin realized that we needed to draw you all here. So, we decided to infect your little friend with TI-SH, a mechanical virus that we control."

He grinned and tapped the dashboard before him. "These are the controls for the virus. There are many, many little machines in her right now... ruining her..."

He paused and smiled again, this time with the glee of a child who has just pulled a huge prank.

"It's a waste, really... she could have been useful... but she was useful, in a way. You know, if you would have known this when you walked into this room, you could have destroyed this dashboard and the machines in Luka's body would have repaired all the damage and disintegrated into a harmless powder. But, you didn't."

Gakupo was shaking with rage.

_How DARE he!_ he thought. _How DARE he talk about Luka as if she was just... just an experiment! _

"Oh, and, by the way." said Ocidem said as he walked out. "Luka doesn't have a month or two. She has but a week to live."

And then he was gone.

Gakupo was in shock.

_They're going... to kill her... Luka... Luka's going to die...?_

He squeezed his eyes shut, tightly, and tears trickled down his cheeks.

_No, no, no, no NO! This can't be true... Luka CAN'T die, she just can't! All that at the Sutin building... for this? I know it isn't so. It's not true. I WILL save Luka. I... I will!_

Gakupo opened his eyes and they shone with moisture. The tears kept coming.

_I promised her that I'd be careful... I promised I'd cure her... I promised her that I would help her make pancakes again. All those promises... all broken... hopelessly shattered..._

And so he huddled in the corner of his cell and cried.

Gumi ran down the street, looking for Akuyami tower. And then, she finally found it.

She burst into the first floor.

The floor, once shining and bright, was now strewn in shards of glass, unconscious guards, and crimson drops of blood.

Gumi's eyes widened, and then she shouted,

"Guys... WHERE THE HECK ARE YOU?"


	8. Chapter Seven

**Author's Note: WOW! That was and exhausting chapter. I'm too tired to write anymore. Please review, I want to know how I did!  
THANKS FOR ALL YOUR SUPPORT, LOYAL READERS! YOU ROCK!**

**Disclaimer: The Vocaloids aren't MINE, MINE, MINE! Or Crypton/cryptin (as I've renamed it here...) or any songs or stuff or people mentioned. Or Vocaloid. Or Llamas. I wish I owned a llama. And a pet chicken.**

**They would be frieeeeeeeends.**

Chapter Seven

Luka lay in bed, huffing. Her breaths left her as soon as they entered, and her face shone red and fevered. Her eyes, unfocused and bloodshot, stared up at the ceiling. They had not moved from the ceiling for a few hours.

Meanwhile, Hiro was getting worried.

Why was the disease going so fast?

After Gumi had entered the lobby of Akuyami tower, she quickly crouched behind a desk. She then sprang out quickly, her gun pumped and ready.

There was silence.

Keeping the gun up in steady hands, Gumi soundlessly ran towards a cabinet and hid behind it too.

Seeing, finally, that there was no one there, she straightened up and walked towards the stairs. And then she stopped.

_Hm._ she thought. _Should I go right to the nineteenth floor? But... what if it's a trap?_

Gumi then had an idea. She started up the stairs, the muscle in her legs rippling. She, unlike the twins, had been up and running for a while. It had been useful when she escaped from Cryptin.

Oh, how she remembered that day.

_The young girl lay on the floor of her cage, looking forlorn. Her green hair pillowed around her head. A guard walked by and tossed a plate of rice at her. _

_ "Dinner!" he said. The young girl leaped forward like a starving animal and started picking the grains off the bottom of her cage._

_ The guard snickered. "Animals!" he said. "You're all animals!" then he turned and left._

_ Once the guard had left, and she was alone, the young girl stopped eating the grains and smirked. "The difference between us animals," she muttered, "Is that while I a wise owl, you are but a stupid rat." Then, lightly grabbed the bowl of rice, put all the food into her mouth all at once, and then gulped. She flipped her hair back, and her arms were lean and muscled. She looked like a small bodybuilder._

_ Then the young girl dropped to the floor and began to do push-ups._

Gumi was jarred out of her flashback by the sound of footsteps. She froze, clutching her gun's trigger.

There was someone coming up the stairs!

She tensed.

And then, a guard rounded the corner, eating a donut. The minute he saw Gumi, he dropped the donut and reached for his gun...

But Gumi was faster. She fired a single shot into his shoulder, and he gasped in pain as he slid down the wall, leaving a trail of blood down the side of the narrow stair's hallway.

Gumi leaned down and picked up the donut, forgotten on the ground. Then, she ate it all in one bite.

"Thanks." she said, and the guard could only watch with his eyes clouded with a haze of pain while Gumi continued up the stairs to the nineteenth floor.

The Vocaloids were miserable.

Ocidem had walked in cheerfully to announce that they were going to be shipped to another location the following day to a secret location for experiments.

"I fear, though, that none of you will live through these experiments." he had said, smirking. "I say, good riddance. Next time, when we make another batch of models like you, we're going to make them obedient fighters, creatures that will attend to our every need. You all are failures. Trash. And trash should be thrown out."

And with that, he left.

The only Vocaloids that could really communicate with their minds were Rin and Len.

_Hey... Rin?_

_ Yeah?_

_ Look at Gakupo._

They both turned to look at him. He was curled in a corner of his cage, his eyes filled with hopelessness. His purple hair hung limp around his face, and he sat, deep in thought, unmoving.

_I feel bad for him._

_ Yeah, I know._

_ He and Luka really, really loved each other._

_ I noticed._

There was a pause.

_I wish we could escape somehow...!_

_ Does it look like we can? Even all our years of pranking expertise couldn't have prepared us for this._

_ I wonder if Hiro's noticed that we've been gone for longer than usual._

_ Well, he can't tell the police, remember? They'd ignore him. The government likes Cryptin. They'll do nothing._

_ Then... what are we supposed to do? Sit and do nothing?_

_ What else can we do?_

And so the twins sat, their eyes scanning the cage for a way, any way, to get out.

Gakupo was in his cage, alone.

_Luka,_ he thought. _I... I wish I could see you... just one last time...!_

His eyes dampened again.

_I shouldn't be crying. I've got to be strong! Aren't men not supposed to cry? Anyway, I've got to be strong... for Luka. If... If she saw me right now, she would probably call me a baby. She would tell me to be a man._

A small, sad smile surfaced on Gakupo's face.

_And then, she would slap me with your fish. _

Gakupo leaned back, feeling the cold metal of the cage against his skin.

_I miss you, Luka. I'll miss you forever, when, when... when..._

Gakupo squeezed his eyes shut. No... Luka couldn't die. It was impossible! He could still see her in his mind, flipping her pancakes while her familiar scent of cooking wafted around her. She couldn't leave. Not now.

He hadn't even said goodbye.

_Well, I'm not about to give up... but the question remains... how? How do I get out of THIS mess?_

And that's when Gumi burst in.

Everyone immediately whipped around.

Was it a mirage? A fake?

No there was no mistaking it.

It was Gumi!  
Muffled cheers went up from all the Vocaloids, but then Gumi put her finger up to her lips in a shushing motion. They all understood, and were silent.

Gumi stepped forward into the path without spikes, and looked around. Where was the controller for the spikes...? She would know it if she saw it...

And then... there it was! The lever! She went over to it, as silently as possible, and pushed it down.

The spikes were lowered back into the floor, and all the Vocaloids had to resist the urge to clap.

Gumi looked around, trying to find to find the lever to lower and open the cages...

And that's when things got more complicated.

Ocidem walked in.

He strode in, and stopped immediately. He made a small choking noise, and yelled, "GUARDS!" and the top of his lungs.

"Aw, sugar!" moaned Gumi, and then pointed her gun and shot the nearest lever she saw.

And by luck, or by a miracle, the cages fell from the ceiling and split open as they hit the floor.

The guards streamed back out from the hatches in the floor, and the Vocaloids tensed to fight, with powers or without.

"NO!" shouted Gumi. "No time for that! We need to leave, NOW!" Then, she pointed and shot at another dashboard. All the metal gags on the Vocaloids made an audible clicking noise and fell off.

"No, we can't leave!" shouted Gakupo. "We need to save... Luka...!"

"No time! THERE'S NO TIME!" said Gumi, brandishing her gun at the guards.

"THERE IS ALWAYS TIME TO HELP THOSE IN NEED!" said Gakupo, stubborn.

"He's right! We can't just leave!" said Ann.

Gumi sighed. "All right, but we can only hold them off for so long, so... HURRY!"

And then a the fighting broke out.

Gakupo tried to run towards the dashboard that controlled the virus within Luka.

"I... I must save her...!"

Guards suddenly surrounded Gakupo.

Gakupo grabbed the guard directly in front of him, and threw him over his shoulder. He landed on another of his comrades and they both fell.

Then, narrowly dodging a bullet, he darted forward. A guard rushed forward, right towards him, but Gakupo threw himself onto his back and kicked up. The guard flew into a couple of others.

Seeing an opening, he ran towards the only cure, the destruction of the dashboard... When a fist caught him under his chin. He stumbled backwards, and he let out a fierce battle cry as his rage doubled. He charged.

And then a bullet hit his shoulder.

But he didn't care. Gakupo was numb to the pain as he struggled forward, blood running down his shirt, towards the machine.

A bullet whizzed past his neck, scratching it and barely missing his jugular vein. Apparently unaware of his near-death experience, Gakupo still punched and kicked as he dug his way through the guards towards the dashboard which held the narrow balance of life and death for Luka.

Meanwhile, the others weren't doing so well. They struggled to fight without their powers.

"Start leaving!" called BRS. "This fight is going to be over very, very soon!"

Len grabbed Rin by the hand and they ran out. Akita followed soon after, shielding her head.

"HURRY!" called Al. He tried to grab Miku's hand, but she was separated from him in the crowd. He tried to battle his way towards her.

"No!" she said. "I will help Gakupo!"

"Miku, we have to leave! I don't want you to die!"

"It's all right, I'll get out of this, I promise!" she called over the sounds of fighting. Al then lost all sight of her. He searched frantically, listening for her voice... but there was nothing. No voice calling to him.

Al gritted his teeth, scanned the mass of people one more time with his eyes... and left.

And that was when Gakupo burst through the crowd and stumbled towards the dashboard of the virus, TI-SH, that was in Luka.

He knew that he had no more fighting in him. There was blood streaming in little rivers down his forehead, and the side of his head. There was also blood on his neck, and his shirt, and running down his pant leg.

A knife lay on the floor, dropped by one of the guards.

"Live, Luka... live even though I probably will not."

He clenched the knife with both his hands...

And brought it down onto the dashboard.

Sparks of electricity sprung out, and the entire thing crackled. Gakupo was thrown back, and he gasped with pain.

But something was wrong.

The screen above it was still on.

Gakupo didn't understand. He'd killed the dashboard... what had he done wrong?

"You fool!" said Ocidem, his eyes lit up with malicious glee. "Did you think that I would ACTUALLY tell you where the dashboard is?"

Gakupo's vision blurred, but he still saw the mad scientist quite clearly.

"THIS is the REAL dashboard!" said Ocidem, and pointed to the one beside the one that Gakupo had knifed. Gakupo's face turned to a mask of despair.

"No...!" he whispered.

"Yes!" said Ocidem, and cackled. "And your friend is going to pay for your actions!"

And with that, he brought his finger down on a single button.

At Vocaloid Mansion, Luka threw back her head and screamed. It was a scream like a dying animal.

Hiro ran over and held her down as she thrashed. He tore the covers off her bed. "Luka!" he cried. "LUKA!"

Luka arched, breathing heavily. It got harder with every breath. She spasmed.

"GAKUPO!" she screamed hoarsley, her voice ripping through her throat. Then, she doubled over and vomited a burst of shining blood. It splatterd all over Hiro.

"LUKAAAAAAAAAAA!" screamed Hiro.

And then, just like that, Luka slumped back into her bed, her eyes shining. Her head flopped to one side.

"Goodbye, Gakupo..." she whispered.

And then she was still, her eyes still open gazing sightlessly at the eggplant that Gakupo had left for her.

Gakupo screamed, "NOOOOOOOO!" as the figure of Luka on the screen filled with tiny pink spots, all over, flickered, and disappeared.

"Your little friend is dead." sneered Ocidem. "Your futile love is extinguished. It's over, boy. You've failed. Luka is dead!" He laughed, throwing his head back. "See what love does for you? What did it do for her? Nothing!" he grinned. "Stupid, stupid, boy!" and with that, he kicked Gakupo in the head.

Gakupo didn't pick himself of the floor. Instead, he sobbed. "Luuuka...! Luuuka...!"

Some guards stepped forward. In their grip, they held Miku, Lily, and BRS, and Kaito, defeated.

"Lock the remaining models up for shipping tomorrow. This feeble rebellion is over."

Gakupo didn't move, his eyes wide. He didn't cry. The grief within him was far greater than anything to cry about.

All the Vocaloids remaining in the lab just stared in sadness as Gakupo lay, forlorn, and screamed into the air, "NOOOOOOOOO! LUKAAAAA! COME BACK! YOU CAN'T BE DEAD! YOU... Y-you can't...!"

And with that he curled up in a ball and sobbed, in a puddle of blood and tears, crying for Luka.

Sometime later, Gakupo lay in a daze on the floor of his cage. It was dark. Something deep in his mind told him that he was in a crate for shipping. He didn't care.

She was gone, gone forever. His life's purpose. Her. Luka.

_Luka, I will never forget you. I will live for you, in your honor._

And with that, overcome by exhaustion, he slept.

Hiro gasped. "Luka!"

Luka lay on the bed, unmoving, her face still pink. She could've been sleeping.

His eyes grew misty. "Luka... no...!"

Pink hair on her head lay all over her pillows, everywhere, and the bed itself was drenched in sweat and blood.

Hiro shook his head in sadness and disbelief and laid his hand over her heart in a last attempt to find a heartbeat...

And gasped, incredulous

And then Luka opened her eyes.


	9. Chapter Eight

**Author's Note: Hey, everyone! So... this is it! It took me a REALLY long time to write this for some reason... probably all the different things happening at once. It got so confusing at one point that I had to write all of the characters and their locations down, just to keep track! I also stopped in the middle to make popovers. Yum, I think they're ready! Bye!**

**Disclaimer: I do not own vocaloid or cryptin/crypton or the characters mentioned the end.**

Chapter Eight

Al, Rin, Len, Meiko, Haku, Gumi, Mikuo, Ann, and Akita ran.

They ran out of the building.

As they had been leaving, Mikuo had stopped.

"Mikuo, what are you doing?" Gumi'd screamed. "Run!"

"No." he'd said, slumping against a wall. His wounds were very deep. "I don't want to go on... anymore... I'll just slow you down. Quickly... they're coming...!"

And then the thundering of boots on stairs was heard.

"NO! MIKUO!" Haku had screamed. "COME WITH US!"

Mikuo looked up, the pain visible in his eyes. His love for Haku overpowered the fire in his wounds, but as he stepped forward...

He collapsed.

Guards flooded the lobby. A few took Mikuo away.

Haku froze, her arm still outstretched, beckoning. Ann ran up, and saw the young girl's expression.

"Oh, Haku...!" she said, sadly.

"First BRS is gone. Now... he is gone." said Haku.

"There's nothing we can do." lamented Meiko. "We have to go. Now. Don't worry, we WILL come back for them... I promise!"

Gumi watched all this from the side, her eyes on the ground.

_What if I'd helped them? Would they even BE in this mess?_

Al, seemingly reading her mind, walked up beside her. "It doesn't matter now. What matters now is that we get the rest of our friends back. Okay?"

Gumi nodded. It was true, she didn't have any fighting powers. She would probably have just been a burden, and captured along with the rest of them.

There was another pressing problem too, though. The guards were right behind them.

They all ran. It was too early for most cars, but one or two passed by. They didn't seem to notice the ragged group of people with vividly colored hair running.

"They're catching up to us! We're not fast enough!" cried Ann.

Just then, a bus pulled up, and the window rolled down. It was Hiro!

"Come in, quickly!" he shouted, and the Vocaloids, needing no further incentive, piled on. The bus's wheels turned and screeched as they all drove away.

Hiro spoke from the front seat. "Uh-oh... why aren't you all here?"

"Because we failed! We totally failed! A bunch got captured!" moaned Akita.

"Oh dear." said Hiro. Sweat ran down the side of his face. "Who?"

"Miku, Lily, Kaito, BRS, Mikuo... and... and Gakupo." said Rin.

"Yeah... poor Gakupo." said Len.

"Well, we can't just sit and do nothing. We'll get home, clean up, and think about some way to get everyone back." said Hiro.

"But... they're all going to be shipped away to a secret place! And we don't know where!"

Gumi interrupted. "I have some reliable sources that could be able to tell me the location of this "secret" facility.

"Wow, thanks! That sounds good. Don't worry, this will all work out in the end." said Hiro positively.

"Except for one thing..." muttered Akita sadly under her breath.

The bus pulled up next to Vocaloid mansion, and they all got out and stood next to the front door. The sky was blue, bright blue, almost too peaceful looking with clouds drifting by to be a witness to such a horrible day.

Hiro looked through his keys.

"Oh, and do you know the good news about Luka?" said Hiro cheerfully.

"GOOD NEWS?" said Ann. "How is Luka's DEATH good news?"

"Luka's... death?" said Hiro, confused, opening the door.

A hand shot out from inside and grabbed the nearest person... which happened to be Meiko. Meiko screamed.

The pink-haired girl had grabbed Meiko by the collar.

"WHERE... IS... GAKUPO?" snarled Luka.

"L-l-l-Luka! Calm down!" said Meiko, trying to get free.

"Luka!" said Hiro. "Stop!"

Luka dropped Meiko. "Where is he?" she peeked over their shoulders.

"Erm... well, he... sort of, kind of got... captured." said Ann.

"WHAAAAAT?" she said. "That IDIOT! He told me he'd be careful!"

"Ehehe... uh, Luka, calm down, we're going to rescue them! Later!" said Hiro.

Luka blinked, and saw the Vocaloids as if for the first time, and the state of their clothes and bodies.

"Oh!" she said. "Sorry, I just... got carried away...!"

Gumi walked up to her and looked her up and down. "You're... you're not sick anymore."

Luka nodded.

"But... but how?" she said, confused, rubbing her chin. "We... we _saw_ the lead scientist of Cryptin, Ocidem, kill you!"

"But... I'm right here!" said Luka.

"No... we saw him push the button on the dashboard... and-and then there were pink dots... and then your figure on the screen disappeared...!"

"Luka_ did_ do something strange." said Hiro. "She... went into convulsions, threw up blood... and then she woke up, healthy, as if nothing had happened!"

"But... that doesn't make any sense!" said Gumi.

"Lets all just sit down and discuss what-"

"WAIT!" said Len. "NOBODY GET CLOSE TO LUKA."

The Vocaloids tensed. "What? What is it?"

"What if she's..." Len paused. "A ZOMBIE?"

Rin walked up behind him and punched him in the shoudler.

"Ow...!" he said, rubbing it and scowling.

They all went to the living room and sat down.

"Well... where _is_ Gakupo, then?" said Luka. "Still in the Akuyami building?"

"At the moment, yes... but, he and the others will be taken to a secret location tomorrow." said Meiko.

"And Mikuo, and BRS too." said Haku, sadly. Ann put her arm around Haku's shoulders.

"What?" said Luka, sounding heartbroken. "So... how will we get him and the others back?"

"Gumi seems to know some people." said Meiko.

"A network of spies!" said Len.

"No, nothing like that." said Gumi.

"Get to the point already!" said Akita, leaning forward. "Do you know where they will be tomorrow? Or the next day?"

"The better question is, do you know how to find out?" said Al. "Miku was with the captured ones." he added.

"We've all lost people we love." said Ann. "How do we know whatever source you'll get information from is reliable?"

"We don't. But we don't have much choice, do we?" said Gumi.

"This... source. Or sources." said Hiro. "When can you contact them?"

Gumi stood up. "I could go right now.

"Yes, that would be nice." said Meiko.

"Wait!" said Al. "Oh, and... Luka?"

"Yeah?" she said, nervous.

"Well... since Gakupo saw you disappear on Ocidem's screen... well..."

Meiko finished the sentence for him.

"Gakupo thinks that you're... dead."

Gakupo sat in the corner of his cage. He thought about Luka.

Luka... her wonderful, voluminous pink hair that he threaded through his fingers when they kissed. Her small, rosy lips, the way they parted when she spoke. Those bright blue eyes, like drops of the sky shining in the face of an angel.

Oh, how he missed her.

_I promised to live for her, to live in Luka's honor. But how will I do that?" _he asked himself.

Suddenly, he heard a voice. "Anyone? Gakupo? Lily? Kaito? Mikuo? Hello? BRS, anyone?"

He recognized the voice. "Miku?" he said.

"Who's there?" said another voice. It was BRS.

"Wait... is everyone here?" said Lily.

There was a chorus of "yeah"'s.

"I'm here too." said a quiet voice.

There was a brief moment of silence as everyone tried to recognize the voice. No one could.

Finally, Miku said, "Wait... who are you?"

The voice responded. "I am Piko. Piko Utanane."

And then, the big question. "Are you... a Vocaloid?"

"Yes." he said. "I am."

"Well... to meet you!" said Lily.

"Are you... the ones from Vocaloid Mansion?" asked Piko.

"Yeah... why?" said Kairo. "Why?"

"I heard the scientists talking about a place... a place where Vocaloids lived together. And no one experiments on them. And... I heard about Gumi."

"Gumi? Yeah, we know her. Why?" said Mikuo.

"She's still alive?" said Piko, incredulously.

"Yeah, why wouldn't she be?" said BRS, suspicous.

"Well... I used to know her. She... she tried to help me escape. Escape Cryptin. But she couldn't figure out how to get me out of my cage... so she left."

"Harsh." said BRS.

"No, it's not like that!" said Piko. "I... I miss her. It's been years."

"If... no, when we get out of this, you're going to come with us to Vocaloid Mansion. And you're going to see Gumi again."

"Really?" said Piko, his voice laced with hope.

"Really." said Miku.

"It will never be the same, though." said a voice. It was Gakupo. "It will never be like... when she was there."

There was silence. No one knew how to answer to that.

Gumi walked through the streets. Cars, buses and trucks whizzed past. She wore a long coat, a shield against the cold.

It was raining. A small, depressing drizzle, it made little puddles in the street. Gumi stepped in one, and the water splashed onto her socks.

"I sure hope Jonho hasn't moved away... he used to keep tabs on Cryptin... she muttered to herself. She then tied a small, purple ribbon to her goggles and turned into a narrow alley.

To her relief, a man started walking in from the other end. He had a long trench coat, and a hat pulled down low over his face.

He'd seen the signal on Gumi's goggles, resting on her head.

They walked in the same direction until they stopped, next to each other.

"Jonho." said Gumi.

"Gumi." said Jonho.

A black, gloved hand emerged from Jonho's coat. Gumi's thin hand slipped a coin into it, and the coin, together with the gloved hand, disappeared back into the folds of the trench coat.

"I need you to tell me where Cryptin's secret experimentation center is."

There was a pause, Gumi's coat flapped in the breeze as the wind blew 's coat was tighter, and din't move an inch.

"There is one in the nearby mountain pass of Katsusido. That is the only one I know of."

"Thank you." she said, and they both immediately began walking towards opposite sides of the alley.

Once Gumi was out, she paused to think it over. Katsusido... that wasn't very far.

She then took the ribbon off her goggles and tucked them inside a pocket.

_Time to go tell the guys._ she thought, and then turned to go back to Vocaloid Mansion.

Luka sat in her bed, sitting this time, and cradled the eggplants that Gakupo had left for her in her hand.

Gakupo thought that she was dead.

_I wonder what he's doing right now. Oh no, I bet he's really sad. He thinks that he'll never see me again! Maybe he's going insane? What if I get there and he's gone mad?_

Luka set the eggplant back on her bedside table and leaned against the bed's headboard.

_I wonder what he'll do if he sees me again._

_ Wait, no._ she thought. _Not IF he sees me again..._

She stood up and walked over to the door.

_When he sees me again._

She walked out the door of her room and shut it behind her.

Luka went downstairs to see the progress of patching up. Hiro looked up as she walked into the living room. Everyone was sitting there. "Oh, Luka, hi!"

He was dabbing something on one of Rin's scratches. She flinched every time the small cloth touched her skin.

"Ow..." she groaned.

"Hey, Hiro," she said. "About when do you think we can get going?"

Hiro threw out the cloth and wiped his hands on a towel. "Well... I'm thinking we should all go to sleep during the day, and go at night. By then, Gumi will surely be back. It will also make sure that wherever everyone Cryptin captured is going, they will be there."

Luka nodded and sat down on a chair, thinking of Gakupo.

_Please, Gakupo... hold out a little while longer. I'm coming!_

The Vocaloids sat together in their crates. They knew that they were on some sort of bus, or truck.

"And this one time, Rin and Len replaced Al's hair gel with raw eggs, and you should have seen his face...!" said Miku.

They were all telling Piko stories about Vocaloid Mansion. Even Gakupo was joining in from time to time, usually to say something about Luka.

Piko interrupted her. "And... how is the food there?" he said, curious.

"Oh, Luka used to make the most awesome pancakes...!" started Lily, then stopped.

"No, it's all right." said Gakupo. "Go on."

"Okay." said Lily. "And they were the fluffiest things ever! Gakupo used to always go down and annoy her while she made them, and he would usually end up with some sort of food on him."

She paused. "It's too bad... too bad that..."

They heard a small noise from Gakupo's crate, a short, sharp intake of breath.

"She was... really something, wasn't she?" said Gakupo, his voice wavering. Only he could see his tears rolling down his cheeks... but everyone else could hear them in his voice.


	10. Chapter Nine

**Author's note: Hey, everyone! Thanks for reading this, and all your reviews, and EVERYTHING! You guys really are too kind. Wait, no you're not. You're not being kind enough. BE KINDER. Heheh. No, it's fine! I just have one request. If you read this regularily, and you haven't ever left a review, please do if you have the time! I just LOVE reviews. I try to answer every one of them I get! I just want some motivation, I want to know that people like/don't like my story. Thanks! (P.S: For the people who read yesterdays post, I at popovers. MAN, they were AWESOME! All buttery and delicious, yum!)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the vocaloids.. Or Cryptin/Crypton. Or Triple Baka, the song mentioned in here. **

**Claimer: I WANNA MAKE A CLAIMER, TO SHOW WHAT I DO OWN. I own Hiro, and Ocidem, and Sutin building, and Akuyami tower, and Katusido, and Ata Udne. Have you ever wondered how I make all these names up? I look up some Japanese words relating to the character and mix them with Spanish words until they're unrecognizable. The result? Really, really, REALLY weird names!**

Chapter Nine

It was about mid-day when the packages arrived.

An armored truck pulled up next to a seemingly blank stretch of mountain. It waited there for a few seconds before a tree was pushed aside to reveal a hole. A man, a guard, more specifically, walked out and up to the truck. After exchanging a password, the man stood back as a piece of the mountain slid up to reveal a paved entrance. The truck rolled in a few yards, then stopped.

The one driving the truck stepped out, followed by someone else, someone who pushed his square glasses up as he turned to the guard that had let them in.

"Unload them." said Ocidem. The guard nodded and called to some other guards.

They all ran over and unlocked the back of the truck. There, silent, rested six huge square packages.

"Perfect." purred Ocidem as the guards unloaded the boxes. "Now, put in the sleeping gas."

The guards pumped some gas into an opening in each of the crates.

"Okay. Now take them to the experimentation tables. We've got to do this quickly, before their little friends get involved."

A guard pried open the first box, reached in, and pulled something out.

And then Miku, asleep, was in his arms, her teal hair reaching towards the floor.

Another guard opened the next crate, and drew out a boy with gray hair and a metallic-looking uniform.

Mikuo was taken next, then BRS, then Lily.

Kaito mumbled something when he was being taken out, and all the guards stopped and drew their guns.

"It's okay." said Ocidem. "He's asleep."

Two guards picked him up and left.

The last crate was opened. And in it... was Gakupo.

He had purple shadow under his eyes, his mouth slightly open. The long, purple hair streamed out behind him.

"Ah, yes." said Ocidem, smirking. "Model E. Gakupo. Yes, we are going to have some fun with this one. Take him."

And then Gakupo was taken as well.

They were all strapped down on long, inclined tables in a room filled with surgical instruments, machines, and flashing lights.

Slowly, they started to wake up.

The first one up was BRS. Her blue eyes shot open, and she turned.

"Uh... guys? Guys?"

Lily murmered and her eyes fluttered open. "Oh!" she said in surprise.

Gakupo was the next one. Eyelids lifted slowly, and he gazed at the ceiling. And then, it hit him again.

Luka was dead.

A fresh batch of tears filled his eyes.

Slowly, everyone woke up, and the Vocaloids had their first glimpse of Piko.

His shiny, gray hair was lit up at the edges by his eyes, which were turquoise and... and glowing!"

"Your eyes glow?" said Miku.

"Oh yeah. I forgot about that." said Piko. "They gave me night vision."

"Why?" asked Kaito.

"Idunno." said Piko, and tried to shrug, but his bonds wouldn't hold him.

Gakupo gulped, and everyone looked towards him. New tears were trickling out.

"Gakupo, you've got to stop crying!" said Lily. "The scientist here sense weakness, look for it. You've got to act strong on the outside!"

"How can I?" moaned Gakupo. "Sh-sh-she's g-gone!"

Mikuo sighed. "I feel guilty. Haku is safe... and of course, I'm happy about that... but, Luka is... she's..."

Gakupo turned his head. "No, it's okay. It's good that's Haku's alive. If we get out of here... you'll see her again. You have someone to live for."

Mikuo nodded. "Yeah." he said.

"You do too, Gakupo." said Lily. "Your life isn't over. Wounds heal. There are plenty of fish in the ocean."

The mention of fish made Gakupo even sadder. "But... she was the best fish in the whole wide world."

Lily didn't know what to answer to that. Neither did the rest of them.

Ocidem walked in.

"Why, hello there, children." he said. "I don't see your friends coming. Could it be that they have forgotten you?"

"No, they would never forget about us!" said Kaito.

"Well, even if they did, they won't find much left by the time they get here." sneered Ocidem. "We will be starting soon."

He walked over to Gakupo. "I think that we'll start with you, pretty boy. I'm curious as to some things... of course, the stupid government doesn't allow human dissections. Well, lucky for us, you aren't human. We could dissect you... but while you're alive, of course. It keeps the organs better preserved... and plus, what fun would it be if you're already dead?"

Ocidem laughed and ran his finger down Gakupo's cheek. Gakupo tried to turn away, gritting his teeth.

"Yes, this'll be fun." he said.

"You're SICK!" yelled Miku. "You're a sick SADIST!"

"You're so loud... why don't we do you after that?" said Ocidem. Miku stopped talking.

Ocidem laughed maniacally, his shoulders shaking, as he walked out.

"You're insane!" BRS called after him. That just made him laugh harder.

"We're doomed." Piko said sadly.

It was night.

The moon loomed over the city, big and round. It's light fell across the buildings, and the roads, and illuminated a small group of people standing by the road.

A bus stood next to these people, white an plain, stopped by the side of the road. There was no one else there. Not one car went past. "

Hiro walked up to them.

"Are... are you sure that you're ready for this?" he asked.

Ann tugged on his shirt. "Don't worry, we'll be fine!" she said, smiling.

"This is something I... _we_ have to do." said Luka. She looked towards the horizon, where the sun had rested only moments before. "Gakupo is counting on us."

"They all are." said Meiko.

"Even if I or Gakupo die," said Luka, determined. "I want Gakupo to know that I was alive for a time before that. I want to be able to say goodbye, die by his side-"

"No one will die." said Haku.

"Yeah, Luka." said Rin. "Nothing in the plan said anything about losing.

"Or dying!" added Len.

"Yeah, guess you're right." said Luka, a slight smile turning the corners of her mouth up.

"Funny." said Akita. "We were here, like this, a few years ago, remember? To save Gakupo."

"You didn't fail that time, did you?" said Gumi, walking up to the bus. "You won't fail now."

"Gumi! You're coming?" said Meiko, hopefully.

Gumi nodded, and Meiko squealed and hugged her. "Yay! I knew you really did care!"

Gumi turned red, but in the darkness, no one saw.

Rin pulled Meiko off. "Let's get going!" she said, and dragged her into the bus. Everyone followed.

"Wait." said Akita. "Who's gonna drive...?"

"I can drive." said Gumi.

"Can you drive... normal?" Len asked tentatively.

"Uh... sure, why not?" said Gumi.

Everyone sighed in relief.

"Good. You had us worried for a second there." said Rin.

"The speed limit is, like, 90 miles an hour or so, right?" said Gumi.

"We're dead." groaned Akita, and slid into a seat.

Luka took a window seat. Al peeked over the seat in front of hers.

"Gakupo's strong." he said. "And so are the rest of them. They'll hold on."

Luka closed her eyes. "But... Gakupo... what if he does something stupid? I know how depressed I was when he disappeared... but he thinks he saw me die! What'll he do?"

"He'll be waiting there for you. I know he will." said Al, then sat back down.

But despite his encouraging words, he was also very worried about Miku.

And Haku was thinking of Mikuo.

Meiko was thinking about her secret love... for Kaito.

Ann was longing for Lily, her friend, who had always helped her when she needed help.

Truth was, their small group was big collage of broken hearts, all taped together in the hope, however small, of making something full and beautiful once more.

The captured Vocaloids waited on the operating tables.

Time ticked by, slow and unforgiving, as they awaited their imminent doom.

A scientist came in and wheeled a cart of instruments next to Gakupo's table.

A bead of sweat rolled down the side of Gakupo's face. The instruments looked sharp and menacing.

About an hour after that, another scientist came in and strapped a big, clunky, brown thing over Gakupo's mouth and nose. He couldn't speak any longer.

"Don't worry... everything's going to be okay..." Lily said, over and over.

Miku closed her eyes, and opened her mouth.

She sang,

"Before I knew it, I was saying "G'morning!" in front of my monitor.  
After some time, I began to feel sleepy..."

It was Triple Baka. The rest of the Vocaloids, except for Piko, recognized song, and most joined in with her.

"Despite being busy, I, like a spoiled child,  
am being drawn in by your tempting words:  
"You are really stupid."  
"I'm seriously hooked on you..."

Gakupo was the only one that didn't at even least try to sing. He couldn't, of course.

"Stupid stupid stupid!  
What is it that has been motivating you so much?  
I start flying towards an unknown world, with my hope.

Stupid, Stupid, Stupid!.."

_What's motivating me now?_ thought Gakupo. _I... I don't know. It's not the motivation to love someone else, or to see everyone else again... so what is it? Why am I still struggling to live?_

"Stupid stupid stupid!  
Don't you still have a lot of things to take care of?  
Crying, laughing, getting angry, let me handle all of them!  
I'll dye them with my colors..."

And then it hit him.

_I'm not striving to live in her honor, in her memory..._

_ I'm trying to get out of this alive so I can see her again. _

And then a small, almost non-existent hope was kindled inside him.

He hadn't actually seen Luka die.

Part of him pushed the thought away. She was probably dead, that's what Ocidem said, that's what the screen at the lab said.

But the other part of him, the part that cried, sobbed over Luka, immersed itself in this fantasy, in this small hope, drowned itself in the dream of him seeing Luka again.

It was like... ghosts. Part of you scoffs that they can't be real, but the other part listens for strange sounds and footsteps in the night.

And as they all waited, singing, the clock ticked on.

The bus rolled on.

Rin and Len sat playing with cards that they had sneaked onto the bus.

"Really. Do you think that you should be playing at a time like this?" said Meiko disapprovingly. The twins ignored her. Akita didn't.

"Why not?" said Akita, lazily spinning a strand of hair around her index finger. "We're going to throw ourselves into a huge battle, why not have some fun before that?"

"How do you think it makes... _her_ feel?" whispered Meiko.

The twins stopped playing and turned to look at Luka.

She stared out the window, her mouth slightly open, with her face propped up on her hand.

"Hey, Luka! Wanna come play cards with us?"

"Wait! Not! Th-that's not what I...what I meant...!" stammered Meiko, turning red.

"Sure, why not?" said Luka. Meiko just stared.

"Nice job, Meiko." snickered Al.

"Oh, shut your hair gel up!" said Meiko crossly.

"Shut my-hair gel-?" he whirled around. "That doesn't even make any... any sense!"

"Shhh!" said Ann. "They're playing cards!"

Al sank back into his seat, his face red.

Haku looked at him from the seat across. "If everyone keeps saying things about your hair gel," she said, "Why don't you stop wearing it?"

"Because!" he said. "I FEEL like it! Sheesh, can't a guy wear hair products without being harassed these days?"

"Apparently not." said Haku, then turned to look out the window.

"Hey!" said Al. "Just who's side are you on?"

Haku didn't answer, leaving Al to grumble about girls.

Suddenly, the bus screeched to a stop. Everyone turned to Gumi, at the front.

They had arrived at the Katsusido moutain pass.

Gumi lowered her goggles onto her eyes. "Gimme a sec." she muttered, and the goggles glowed red. She looked all over the mountainside, scanning it.

"Huh." said Len. "X-ray goggles. Who knew?"

"THERE!" shouted Gumi. "I see it, I see it!"

"See what?" said Akita. Suddenly, the bus shot forward, and everyone screamed. Gumi pointed to a blank stretch of wall.

"THERE! THERE THERE THERE!" she said. Everyone was confused.

"Uh... Gumi?" said Ann, sweetly. "That's just... rock."

"Nuh-uh, nuh-uh!" said Gumi. "That's the..."

She removed her goggles and stopped talking.

"Huh." she said.

She put the goggles back on and took them off again.

"A... hidden lab?" she said, then smacked her forehead. "Of COURSE! But.. how do we get in?"

Everyone thought.

"Blast through the wall?" said Al.

"No! Wait... well, how else?" said Meiko.

"Well... hm. I don't like it, but I guess that it's the only sure way of getting into the place. So... yeah. We can blast through."

"But how do we do that?" said Rin, raising an eyebrow. "It's not like we carry explosives around with us!"

Len coughed.

Rin stared at him.

"Really?" she said.

Len nodded.

"Okay, looks like that's set!" said Gumi, clapping her hands. "We should get going, then!"

Ocidem walked into the lab that held the Vocaloids.

"Why, hello there!" he said, pulling on a pair of gloves. Gakupo's heart skipped a beat.

"I'm going to set some things up now." he said, and walked over to Gakupo's table. Gakupo's eyes widened in fear.

_I'm going to die. I'm going to die. I'm going to die._ he thought, terrified.

Ocidem wiped off some instruments, then ripped part of Gakupo's shirt away. Then, he cranked a handle and the table holding Gakupo straightened out.

Then, he picked up a shiny scalpel and pulled a mask over his mouth.

"Okay, then." he said, smiling. "Let's begin."

And then Gakupo squeezed his eyes shut as Ocidem lowered the scalpel towards his stomach...


	11. Chapter Ten

**Author's Note: Well, here you go! Chapter Ten!**

**I had to sacrifice precious, precious homework time for this...! *ulp* But... it was worth it. It really was worth it. I listened to action music during the battle scenes, specifically this one: **http:/www.youtube.com/watch?v=emy8E3ZtvVM **It was recommended to me by a friend... and it ACTUALLY WORKS YAY! The battle scene turned out niiicely. Buuut I bet that I made a good... pile of spelling mistakes. Sorry, guys! Anyway... enjoy! Review!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own vocaloid, cryptin/crypton, songs mentioned, characters in this stuff stuff stuff. WHAAAATEVER I HAVE A STRESS HEADACHE GOTTA FINISH HOMEWORK! BYE!**

Chapter Ten

Ocidem positioned the scalpel over Gakupo's stomach. Miku screamed.

"This'll only hurt a lot." he sneered, and then the scalpel started spinning, letting out a buzzing noise...

"SIR!" called someone. "SIR OCIDEM!"

Ocidem looked up, annoyed. "What?"

There was a huge blast that shook the entire place. Ocidem turned off the electric instrument and listened closely, tense.

There was another explosion.

"They're getting in!" said an assistant, running in. Papers flew out of his arms. "Quickly, come, sir!"

Ocidem looked at Gakupo and smiled. "This isn't over, boy." he said, and ran out of the room after his assistant as another made dust come down from the ceiling.

Some of the Vocaloids in captivity started cheering. Gakupo was breathing hard, adrenaline pumping through his veins. His forehead was damp.

_That... that was a close one. _he thought.

Piko smiled in wonder.

_Am I really going to be saved? _he thought. _After all these years... am I finally going to see Gumi again?_

"AGAIN!" roared Al. Len tore the pin out of another grenade with his teeth and tossed it at the wall of the mountain pass.. It exploded.

"We need one more!" called Meiko. Len pulled out a grenade.

"This is my last one...!" he said, nervously.

"DO IT!" everyone shouted. Len licked his lips, threw the pin far away and hurled the grenade. It exploded immediately... and blew a huge chunk out of the wall. Finally!  
Gumi watched from the back of the group, her arms crossed and a smug smile on her face. They were in.

_These kids really are something._ she thought.

"Everyone... power up!" shouted Haku. They all pressed down on their amulets, and the transformations occurred.

"For Miku!" hollered Al.

"For Kaito!" said Meiko, punching her fist in the air.

"For Lily!" shouted Ann.

"And Mikuo! And BRS!" said Haku.

Luka walked up in front of them all, and gazed, determined, at the entrance to the hideout.

"GAKUPO! I'M COMING!" She shouted, and then she lifted her fist in the air.

"CHAAAARGE!" she hollered.

Everyone gave a battle cry and charged into the the side of the mountain.

They were immediately greeted by a shower of bullets. Everyone's wings whipped around them, and the bullets wildly richoceted off and struck some guards.

"Remember, our only goal is to move forward!" shouted Al.

"Got it!" shouted everyone.

Rin and Len jumped up in tandem and their ribbons shot out. A group of guards was instantly snarled, and Meiko gassed them all. They advanced.

Gumi waited outside, gun ready, just in case. She didn't have wings, or special powers apart from x-ray vision.

_Be careful, guys!_ she thought. Then, she quickly pointed her gun in and shot a few rounds, just to help the Vocaloids in any way she possibly could.

Inside, they were advancing. The attack was working. Not many guards could fit into the narrow passageways, and there was no mechanism built in to the unstable mountain that could turn off their powers.

No matter how many shots the guards fired, the Vocaloids were ready.

Ann slashed down with her sword. Whistling through the air, it crashed down onto the floor. The rock was slashed apart and bits of it flew into different directions. The guards stumbled back, not wanting to feel the wrath of the sword.

Meiko was suddenly surrounded by guards. They moved in closer...

and then, Meiko sucked in a breath, then screamed as she spun in a circle, releasing gas from the tubes that wound up her arms. There was coughing, and many of the guards dropped.

"Now THAT'S how you win a battle!" said Meiko triumphantly.

Someone suddenly released a breath behind her. She whirled.

Al was behind her, holding someone to the ground. "That's how you get distracted and LOSE a battle, Meiko."

Meiko grumbled and moved on, and soon did Al.

The sun shone brightly through the hole in the entrance where Gumi stood, grinning and silently egging the Vocaloids on, pumping her fist everytime another guard fell.

And Luka...

A group of guards cowered in fear as Luka rose above them, her wings spread. The light from the hole in the wall made her into a silhouette, like one of a vengeful angel.

"FOR GAKUPO!" she yowled, and swung her fish. Sparks flew out, and the guards screamed and jumped back. Whatever parts of the floor could ignite burst into flame. The flames licked high, lighting up Luka's face. She stepped forward through the fire, lit orange from the crackling flames.

"You took Gakupo away from me..." she said, and sprang up suddenly.

"I'M HERE TO TAKE HIM BACK!" she yelled, and brought her fish down. The impact sent a shock wave into the air, knocking some guards and, unfortunately, some Vocaloids back.

"Ow...!" said Akita, rubbing her head. "Luka, watch it!"

"Sorry. I get carried away when I think of... him." said Luka, straightening up.

Akita howled and the fire blew out. The wind buffeted Luka's skirt, and it rose, rippling a little before settling back down.

The main hallway was clear of guards.

"EVERYONE! ADVANCE!" said Haku. Her eyes were lit up with the dark energy that coursed through her body.

And they all soared forward, spinning around each other, wing-to-wing.

The sounds of battle went through the walls, and the captured Vocaloids heard.

BRS was the first one to notice.

"I hear... explosives!" she said, her voice joyful. "Guys, I hear... I hear them!"

Kaito gasped. "Y-y...yeah! I hear them now too!"

"We're saved!" cried Miku.

Gakupo couldn't speak, but his insides turned.

_Luka... Luka, I wish that we'd been able to save you... now I'm going to be saved, and I feel positively guilty about it...! Well, unless... unless you-!_

Gakupo shook his head, dispelling the crazy dream.

_No._ he thought. _Stop it, Gakupo. You'll only be even sadder when you don't see her among the rescue team._

"C'mon, over here!" hollered Mikuo.

"Guys, over here!" echoed Lily.

Piko smiled.

_Could it be?_ he thought.

And then, Ocidem ran in again. His glasses, usually neatly perched on his nose, were askew. He looked annoyed, and ran to a telephone hooked on the wall.

"Reinforcements!" he shouted into the telephone. "We need some! NOW!"

He ran back out, grumbling.

"I hope the guys are doing okay...!" said Lily, worried.

"Oh, don't worry." said Miku smugly. "I reckon that they're doing juuust fine...!"

Rin waved her arms and a ribbon shot out and threw a guard against a wall. The breath went out of him and he fell.

The Vocaloids had encountered the second wave of guards.

Al wheeled and spun, dust trailing behind him. A bullet shot past his cheek, ripping a narrow line along it. It stung, and he winced, but he mostly ignored it and kicked the gun responsible with a tire. The firearm was immediately ground into a fine powder. The guard stared for a moment at where the gun had once been, then ran off, holding his helmet down.

A guard grabbed Akita by the hand and swing her down. She struggled, but the guard was strong and she couldn't exactly turn her head 180 degrees to howl him off. The guard tried to stab her in the back, but she wrenched away and the knife just grazed her. A small spurt of blood splattered out, and then Akita turned, the pain adding to her fury, and howled right in the guards face. The guard fell, unconcious.

Little wounds began to appear on them. Individually, they didn't hurt much, but little by little they started to look pretty beat up. But the fighting spirit remained in them, and they pressed on further.

"Keep going until we see signs of our friends! We'll get to the end of the cave if we have to!" said Haku.

And so they kept fighting.

Ocidem ran into the guard's preparation room. It was littered with groaning, injured guards.

"W-what happened?" he shouted, disbelieving. His hair, usually slick and shiny, was a mess.

"They're... they're just too strong!" said one of the guards. "One of them? Just POOF and a bunch of guards fall asleep! Just like that!" he shook his head in disbelief. "It really make ya wonder-"

"I DON'T PAY YOU TO WONDER!" shouted Ocidem in a rage, throwing a table to the side. It crashed against the walls. His eye twitched.

"Y-y-yezzir!" said the guard, snapping to attention and saluting.

"Now, listen to me." snarled Ocidem. "I want you to keep them out as long as possible."

Then he smiled and drew out his cell phone.

"I'll call the boss." he said, and laughed as he started dialing.

It was a while later when Gumi, waiting outside, heard a truck approaching.

_Wonder who it could be? _she thought. _I should probably shoot them..._

The vehicle rounded the corner. It was an armored truck, and Gumi cursed her luck. She wouldn't be able to shoot at it, so the best thing she could do was hide.

She scrambled behind some bushed and waited, tense.

And then, someone stepped out. A single person.

But that single person was all it took to make Gumi's mouth drop.

He... it... was disgusting.

The thing was a big, slimy creature, covered all over with sickly looking green goo, with circles of black here and there. Little tentacles and hairs stood out all over the body. The eyes were like cat eyes, except they buldged out.

But the most disturbing and terrifying thing... was it's mouth.

It was huge, almost fully taking over the misshapen, oversized head. There were no teeth. It was only a round, gaping hole, dripping with... something that looked nasty and gelitanous. The inside of the mouth was covered in little tentacles, with a big one in the middle that was probably the tongue. The whole mouth was probably big enough to fit to full-grown people in there.

Gumi gagged silently. It was really grotesque.

Then, suddenly, the face folded into a quite... ordinary human face, except for the cat eyes. They were set in the human face, but the pupils still looked like a cat's.

"Well, well, well." the stranger mused to himself. "It looks like Ocidem couldn't finish the job himself... guess I'll have to step in."

_Now's my chance! _thought Gumi, and pointed her gun through the leaves of the bush...

"Don't bother, little girl." said the man. "It won't do you much good. Bullets don't pierce my skin. So why don't you stay out here like a good girl?"

Gumi's eyes widened.

_He... he can see me? _she thought.

"Yes. Crystal clear, in fact, my dear." said the man in a cultured voice.

_Gyah! _thought Gumi. _Who... who IS this guy?_

"Glad you asked." said the man as he walked into the cave. "My name is Boques. Boques Askero. Head of Cryptin." he said, and then he disappeared into the mountainside and Gumi could see him no longer.

Finally, drenched in sweat, and blood, and who knows what else, the Vocaloids, having gotten rid of all the guards they found... heard the screaming.

"Hey." said Rin. "Do you guys hear that?"

"Wait... yeah!" said Ann. "I hear them, I hear them!"

They heard all the captured Vocaloid's voices. Except for one's.

"Gakupo?" said Luka. "Why don't I... why don't I hear him?

"Don't worry, Luka, he'll be there." said Al.

Luka nodded, determined. "We've got to find out where all the shouting is coming from!" she said. They all looked around.

They were in a dead end.

"This is ridiculous!" said Len. "We can hear them perfectly... as if they're right NEXT to us... but they're not here! There are no doors close to us!"

"Why would they have a dead end without any doors on it or anything, anyway?" said Haku thoughtfully.

"I say we just bust through the wall. What could happen?" said Akita.

Rin rolled her eyes and turned. "That is the-"

"BEST IDEA EVER!" said Len. "Here, I've only got little bombs left, but they should do the trick!" He smiled.

"That's IT, young man!" said Meiko. "From now on, you are getting strict clothing inspections!"

"Awww, man...!" groaned Len.

The captured Vocaloids lay strapped on tables. They hollered out for their friends.

Miku stopped for a moment. "Don't you think it's taking them a little too long...?"  
"Well, it's not easy, y'know." said BRS. "Let them take their time. They'll find us eventually."

Miku nodded. "Yeah, you're right."

"Better late than not at all!" quoted Lily. Miku laughed.

And then, the door opened and a man strode in.

He was quite an unremarkable man, with a simple face and a business suit. He sat down in a chair.

"I'm sorry." he said in a smooth, cultured voice. He turned towards them and they realized that he had cat eyes.

"I see you're hopeful that your friend are coming for you. They are. But I will make sure that they never get you. Because I am Boques, leader of Cryptin, your creator. And you are my property."

He licked his lips. Except it wasn't a tongue that slid out, it was a tentacle.

"Yes... this'll be fun." he chuckled.

And then the first blast was heard on the other side of the wall.


	12. Chapter Eleven

**Author's Note: Ha, hahaha. I enjoy torturing people with my writing. Cliffhangers, "favorite characters in pain" scenes... everything! I do especially horrible things to one character in particular in this chapter. Heh. I hope no one tries to kill me over this particular scene at the end of the chapter! XD**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the charaters in this, Vocaloid, cryptin/crypton... blah blah blah. GYAAAH MY HISTORY HW! AND MATH! BYE!**

Chapter Eleven

The walls of the narrow passage shook as the bombs exploded on the wall.

"Come on!" cheered Al. "We can do this!"

"Hey!" said Len, fishing for another bomb in his sock. "I don't see you doing anything!" He chucked another small bomb. It blew up upon contact with the rock.

Suddenly, they heard a crackling noise.

"Shhh!" said Rin, and Len stopped throwing bombs. There was silence. And then, the crackling was heard again. It was coming from the walkie-talkie clipped on Rin's waist.

"Guys! Come in!" they heard. It was Gumi!

Rin picked it up. "'Lo, this is Rin. 'Sup?"

"Don't sound so cheerful! A strange guy claiming to be the head of Cryptin just waltzed right in! He had creepy cat eyes, and this... this REALLY gross mouth, with all these little tentacles-!"

And then, just like that, the signal disappeared. A static noise was heard.

Rin shook the device, annoyed. "Hello? Gumi? GUMI?"

The light on the walkie-talkie turned green. The signal had reconnected! All the Vocaloids listened intently.

"Hello, children." they heard.

It was not Gumi's voice. It was the voice of a man.

"Come right in, by the way." said the voice coming from the speakers of the walkie-talkie. "I've been expecting you."

"DARN RIGHT WE'RE GONNA COME IN!" shouted Luka. "FOR GAKUPO! FOR EVERYONE!"

Len gritted his teeth and threw another bomb.

On the other side of the wall, the captured Vocaloids had been observing the strange man, Boque.

He had walked in, sat on a chair, and closed his eyes. They closed sideways, not up and down like normal human eyes. Miku shuddered.

The explosions on the other side of the wall continued.

Boque's smile had suddenly widened into a grin.

Gakupo lay on his table, hands clenched into fists. Blood and adrenaline pumped through his veins.

_Maybe... maybe I won't die today._ he thought.

And then, a blast ripped through the wall. Chunks of rock and sand tumbled down to reveal a group of people.

And standing, in a confident pose, at the front of the of the group was...

Gakupo's eyes widened and his pupils grew. He forgot how to breathe.

As he stared at her, it was as if time stopped. Specks of dust floated down and settled.

Because there she was.

Her pink hair streamed out behind her, then fell back down in shimmering waves around her shoulders. Her blue, fiery eyes glittered with anger.

Her dress was ripped and tattered slightly at the bottom, but it still shone as the light from the ceiling glinted off it. It slowly spun around her once and came to a rest.

And even though her face was covered with dust from the rocks...

To Gakupo, it was the most beautiful sight that he had ever seen in his life.

Slowly, the Vocaloids started cheering and clapping, shouts of joy mixed in with happy tears. Piko, not understanding what was so amazing, still smiled. Happiness spreads quickly, after all.

And then Luka saw Gakupo.

He was lying on the table, his shirt ripped off. His purple hair lay splayed in a loose ponytail on his arms. Luka slowly, lovingly drank in every detail of Gakupo that she had missed... his happy, smiling eyes... the smooth curve of his shoulders...

And that's when she saw the gag and the straps holding him down.

Her voice returned to her. "Gakupo!" she shouted, crying tears of anger and joy, and leaped towards him to release him...

When suddenly an arm caught her in the stomach. Her breath left her as she stumbled back, and looked up.

In a flash, the man sitting on a chair that they had all ignored was standing between them and their friends.

"I'm afraid I can't let you take them." he said. "Hello, my name is Boque, leader of Cryptin. Nice to meet you." He held out a hand.

No one shook it.

"Hm. Not the friendly type, I see." he said, and dropped it back down to his side.

"I don't care who the heck you are, but we're going to take you down!" said Luka. The small group behind her cheered.

"Oh, really?" said Boque, a peaceful smile on his face. "Because there so, so many of you and only one of me?"

"Y...y-yeah!" said Meiko, unnerved. Something about the way he said it sounded like he was mocking them.

"Very well then." he said, and leaned on a table.

The Vocaloids tensed.

"What?" he said, closing his eyes. "Didn't you say you were going to take me-"

"YAH!" Ann jumped into the air and swung down her sword.

Boque grabbed it with his bare hand. Ann flapped her wings, surprised.

"Now, now, my dear." said Boque. "Aren't you a little young to be carrying something big and pointy like that? Someone might get..."

He threw Ann across the room. She hit the wall and bounced off onto the floor.

"Hurt." finished Boque. He hadn't even shifted his position, leaning on a table.

"ANN!" shouted Lily from a table. "ANN, CAN YOU HEAR ME?"

"Yeah." said Ann. She picked herself back up, wincing.

Boque chuckled softly, yet darkly. "I'm stronger than you think I am, you know." he said. "You... you contain only a fraction of my strength. I made sure of that when you were created, especially for occasions like this."

He glanced up at the ceiling lazily. "You know, I wasn't making you to sell to the government. I meant to use you for another purpose entirely. I wanted to overthrow those fools that call themselves leaders that are in power now. I wanted to send an army across the nations, make a new world under my command. My existence is a strange one. The government found me, apparently. Maybe I'm an alien. Maybe I'm not. But the point here is, I made you. I know your strengths, and your weaknesses. All of you combined couldn't defeat me."

He licked his lips. "You could try if you'd like..." he said. "I'd love a nice snack..."

"Was it just me, or did he just call you... a snack?" said Miku from behind Boque.

"It doesn't MATTER!" said Al, kicking up. His tires spun, and he thrusted his leg up...

Boque caught it, lifted Al clean off the ground by his foot, and kicked him in the head. Then he kicked him again. And again.

"STOP!" shouted Miku, struggling against the bonds that held her. Meiko then sprung into action, and puffed a load of gas at Boque. Boque was unaffected by the gas, and his arm shot out, stretchy like elastic, and pulled Meiko into the cloud. Meiko stumbled back, coughing.

"This... is... bad." she huffed out, before slumping to the floor.

Rin was suddenly behind Boque, and her ribbons wrapped around him. He easily pulled them off, swung them around with Rin at the end as if she was a lasso, and flung her across the room. She crashed into a glass mechanism on the wall, and it shattered all around her as she fell to the ground. She was bleeding from many cuts.

A shard of glass landed near BRS. She gasped. This was her chance!

None of the Vocaloids knew what to do. He was just too strong...!

And then a cannonball struck Boque on the back of the head. He took a step forward, absorbing the force of the blow, then turned.

BRS had cut all the Vocaloids free and they had transformed, and as they all watched, she sliced through Gakupo's gag and it fell off.

"Weren't expecting that, were you?" she sneered.

But, to the Vocaloid's great dismay, Boque seemed unconcerned. "This makes no difference to me." he said, and shrugged. "I will beat you all."

Gakupo's eyes met Luka's Luka saw her name form on Gakupo's lips as a smile lit his face. "Luka...!" he said.

"Gakupo." said Luka, feeling as if she were in a dream.

Gakupo took a step forward, to finally rejoin Luka, feel her touch again... when Boque stepped in between them.

"Ah, yes. The two lovers. Ocidem told me about you." he smirked. "Too bad you're both about to die. It's a shame, really." he said.

"EVERYONE, NOW!" shouted Haku. Everyone pointed their weapons and sprung for one, huge, simultaneous attack. Boque spread his arms, and sent out a pulse of energy that flung them all back. Miku sprung forward, knives flashing. Boque ducked, which sent her flying into Kaito. Kaito dodged and tried to freeze Boque, but Boque jumped to the side... and then a black ball of energy flew his way. He stepped to one side, and saw Haku standing defiantly and the other side of the room, fierce eyes locked on him juggling three balls of black energy with one hand.

"My, my." laughed Boque. "You're all very persistent. Just like flies." then, he stepped forward.

"My turn." he said, and then drew a sword... from his own chest?

"Whoa." said Lily

"Whoa, indeed." said Boque, and sprung forward. Lily managed to dodge to attack mostly, but the sword grazed her cheek. She held her staff up and it light with a blazing light that made even the Vocaloids farthest away squint...

But Boque only smiled. "Foolish girl." he said, then spread his hand and sent a ball of fire through the air. It hit Lily, and she went down. The fire extinguished, leaving Lily on the floor, only half-conscious.

"Lily!" shouted Ann, and ran forward, but Boque kicked her. She slammed into a wall. Kaito tried to encase him in ice, but Boque touched the ice and it shattered.

Gakupo couldn't stand not fighting a second longer. They needed him. They all needed him. And Luka was alive, alive, the impossible dream come true.

"I won't die. Not today!" he whispered to himself, then spun his nunchuks and leaped into the air. Boque turned and easily defletced the blow with his sword. Gakupo landed, and Boque was about to bring the sword down onto his neck...

When suddenly, A fish latched onto his face and he stumbled back. He pulled it off and crushed it in his hand. It turned to dust.

Luka stood in front of him, the fish in her hand giving off sparks.

"Ah, Model 03." said Boque. "Luka Megurine."

Luka tensed. There was away about how he said those words...

"Hello... and goodbye!" he said, and then it was like he turned inside out. He retained a pretty humanoid shape, but gooey and slimy, with a huge mouth line with tentacles. His eyes bulged out. He was... hideous.

Rin and Len gagged.

"I wasn't joking about having a snack, you know." said the creature that stood before them. His voice, no longer smooth and cultured, was guttural and watery, like there was slime in his throat. It was almost like distorted gurgling.

A long, purple, slimy tentacle with little fleshy pads all over it suddenly shot out from the huge mouth and wrapped itself around Luka's ankle. She screamed and dropped her fish as Boque pulled her feet out from under her.

"Luka!" shouted Gakupo, and tried to run to her, but Boque spread his hand and a shock wave tore through the room, breaking equipment and flinging Gakupo along with some other Vocaloids across the room.

A stream of blood trickled down the side of Gakupo's head. "LUKA!" he shouted.

The tentacle around Luka's foot started dragging her towards Boque. She tried to grab on to something, anything.

"GRAB MY HAND!" hollered Akita, but when Luka reached out, she reached and invisible wall.

"Don't even try!" gurgled Boque. "You couldn't touch her if you wanted to."

Luka screamed and kicked, and another long, gooey tentacle shot out and draped itself all around Luka's legs. A third tentacle wrapped itself around her waist.

She tried to kick, but couldn't. The tentacles, while soft and squishy, also had muscle under the surface. Luka could feel the watery goo all over her legs and up to her waist. It burned slightly.

"HELP MEEE...!" she screamed, thrashing in the tentacles grip. Mikuo threw himself against the invisible wall, but then electricity coursed through his body and he was thrown back.

Luka clawed at the floor, her fingers bleeding and sore, but she couldn't find a good place to hold on too.

Gakupo sprung forward and bashed his nunchucks against the invisible wall. Sparks flew with every hit, but the obstacle stood firm.

Luka looked up at Gakupo with tears in her eyes. More tentacles wrapped themselves around her stomach and squeezed. She could feel them pulsing with the heartbeat of the monster.

"Luka!" said Gakupo, horrified.

"Gakupo... please...!" pleaded Luka, tears running down her pale cheeks. A tentacle wound up her neck and covered her mouth. They were now wrapped all around her chest and her stomach, her legs and her waist, squeezing. Her arms were locked by her sides. She couldn't struggle anymore.

"NO! NO! NO!" shouted Gakupo, kicking the wall with every word. The shocks zinged through him, but he didn't feel them. Luka was being dragged into Boque's mouth.

Luka lifted her head as she slowly scraped across the floor and saw a huge mouth before her. Slime dripped down from little tentacles in it, all wiggling in anticipation. Nothing about the monster looked even a little human now. It had all been a disguise, the previous form.

Her foot touched the edge of the mouth. It was slimy and warm and wet, and Luka squirmed in revulsion. The tentacles tightened around her, and she tasted blood in her mouth.

_I'm... I'm going to die._ she thought.

Gakupo panted on the other side of the seemingly impenetrable wall, sweaty and exhausted. There was no way he could... save her...

"NO! I WON'T LOSE YOU AGAIN!" he shouted, and kicked the wall. Once again, nothing happened.

Luka gave up struggling as she slid into the mouth of the beast. She couldn't fight anymore.

And so the last thing she saw before the mouth closed around her was Gakupo's terrified face, his eyes wide.

_Goodbye, Gakupo..._ she thought, and then the last rays of light slowly faded as she felt the roof of Boque's mouth gently squish down onto her.

She closed her eyes.


	13. Chapter Twelve

**Author's Note: Well, here ya go! Chapter Twelve!**

**I've been having less hits lately... *grumble*... I know I'm being all grabby and selfish but I love getting hits, it's fun! Anyway, enough about my selfish desires. I hope you enjoy this chapter! Wow, writing this sure went by fast! Huh. I wonder why! So.. enjoy!**

**P.S: I listened to the same song as last time while I wrote. Wow, it really helped!**

**Dizclaimer: I do notz own ze company Cryptin/Crypton. Or ze Vocaloidz. Or songz menSHEEEeoned.**

Chapter Twelve

Gakupo stood in front of the invisible wall.

"NO!" he shouted.

"Gakupo, be careful!" shouted Meiko, but he didn't listen. Over and over and over again, he hit the wall, but it didn't even crack. How could it? It was invisible.

The monster at the center of the room, Boque, laughed. "Ha! You can't get me, little Vocaloids. Your fighting was to no avail. Give up, before you suffer the same fate as your friend!"

"Never!" shouted Gakupo in defiance. He banged against the wall with his nunchuks. "LUKA!"

_I'm running out of time!_ he thought. _But... what can I do? Luka's being... digested, or something and I can't even go near that... that thing!_

Gakupo turned to the rest of the Vocaloids.

"Anything?" he said, desperate.

They shook their heads and shrugged.

"Gakupo... I really think that there's no way... not now...!" said Ann.

"It's too late." said Lily.

"No." said Gakupo. "If there's one thing Luka has taught me, it's that it's never too late."

He straightened up and looked at Boque.

"And I won't let Luka die, not while the life is in me!" He spun his nunchucks and continued to bash the wall.

Luka lay inside of Boque's huge mouth.

Little tentacles were woven all around her, squeezing and wriggling, tasting her. Her body burned.

_Did I really have to die like this?_ she thought. A tentacle slid into her mouth.

_This is so gross!_ she thought, the old Luka coming back for a few seconds. She struggled. This made more tentacles shoot out and wrap themselves around her. They squeezed her tightly and she gasped, inhaling slime. They pulsed and throbbed, the gummy surfaces rubbing against her skin.

Suddenly, she was wide awake. Everything was sharp and clear.

_I won't die!_ she thought, wiggling. It did no good.

When she opened her mouth to scream, it was cut off by three more tentacles shooting into her mouth. One slid down her throat.

The walls of the mouth squeezed together. It was getting harder to breathe.

_I guess... I guess it was worth it._ she thought. _I did see Gakupo again, and I saved him. I hope he's doing all right out there._

And then, a sudden burst of burning pain seared across her. A small part of her mind told her that she was probably being digested.

Luka tried to kick her legs. The tentacles just got tighter.

And then, the biggest mistake. Luka opened her mouth to scream again, and a few more tentacles shot into her mouth and some slid down into her throat.

She couldn't breathe. She was choking.

Luka thrashed wildly as her head started to spin. And as she lost consciousness, she saw more tentacles sliding into her mouth, slimy and disgusting.

Some wove their way down into her stomach but Luka didn't notice.

Her world had gone black.

Outside, Gakupo was still trying to get through the wall as Boque laughed.

Miku watched all this from the back of the room.

_No,_ she thought. _This... this is horrible! I gotta do something... but WHAT?_

Haku walked up beside her and looked her in the eye.

"Miku." she said. "Do what you feel is right."

And then it came to Miku. The right thing to do.

Miku closed her eyes and jumped. And then she shouted the one, mysterious word that had appeared on her tongue from nowhere. She didn't know what the word meant, but it still felt right.

"Append!" she said, and then her whole world went bright blue behind her eyelids.

The rest of the Vocaloids turned in awe as Miku descended slowly from her jump, her ponytails rippling above her. An aura of raw power surrounded her, and the air around her seemed to glow blue.

She landed and the knives on her glinted.

And then, she screamed and leaped forward.

With one quick slice of her knives, the invisible wall shattered.

The air rippled as the force that had blocked off Boque collapsed. Buy Boque stayed where he was. It was hard to read his emotions... he barely had a face anymore, after all.

Everyone else decided to try what Miku did.

"Append!" they all said, and choruses of "whoa"s went up from them as they felt something surge into them, like elecricity.

Gakupo was the next to spring into action.

"YAAAAH!" he shouted, and sprung forward, nimble as a cat. His ninchucks whirled at an incomprehensible speed, and he glowed purple as he jumped.

Boque dodged it by quickly shifting his mass to one side. Ann came up behind him, glowing golden as sunshine, and brought her sword down. A makeshift foot shot out from Boque and kicked her away. Her sword clattered from her hands.

Another wall, translucent this time, materialized around him. But this time, Meiko just brought down his knives and it ripped apart. Rin and Len wrapped their ribbons around him, and Boque expanded...

But he couldn't get free.

Haku hurled a fireball, but Boque absorbed it and shot it back. Apparently, he could still fight while being held back.

Akita howled at him, and his coating of slime rippled, but then he fired a burst of energy from what looked like a hand, and Akita was thrown back.

"Ugh..." she moaned, clutching her head. "I should've stayed in bed this morning...!"

Al jumped onto Boque, and he let out a sort of gurgle scream as the tired on Al's feet dug into him. Boque threw Al off.

"Now this is just starting to annoy me" he said, and his slime rippled and filled in all the various holes across himself. "However, you are still not strong enough, even with your little "Append" nonsense."

He smirked. "And I'm afraid your friend is leaving very, very soon."

Inside Boque, Luka regained her consciousness momentarily.

Her mouth was filled with tentacles. She could barely breathe. Her shoes had come off, and her dress was torn. Almost every inch of her body was covered with squirming, burning tentacles.

And then, suddenly, she felt something bite down on her stomach. She tried to cry out, and couldn't.

The monster was chewing on her.

She managed to pull away a little, but then the teeth caught her chest and tears leaked from her eyes as she felt ribs break.

_Let me die already, let me die, let me die, let me die... I want to die...! _she pleaded in her head. She opened her eyes. They weren't really teeth, just sort of gummy stumps, biting down again and again, on her legs and arms and stomach.

She gagged violently. That just made the tentacles slide in further.

It was just too much. The teeth gnawing on her, the tentacles squeezing and wriggling on her body, the tentacles pushing down her throat...

She fainted.

Outside, the battle was going badly again.

Boque seemed indestructible, even with all the Vocaloids more powerful than before. He just giggled when anyone tried to hit him.

Gakupo had been thrown against the wall a while before. His head hurt. He looked down at his bleeding hands. His nunchucks lay beside him.

Rage boiled up inside him, and then as he blinked the nunchucks turned into a glowing, crystal purple sword.

He stood, picked it up, and calmly walked over to where Boque was fighting the Vocaloids.

He knew that Luka was in there somewhere, and if he just brought the sword down he might accidentaly cut her in half.

So he swung the sword across Boque's top half, over the mouth. It was as big as a table.

Slimy extensions shot out to block the sword, but then the sword hummed with a strange energy and turned burning hot as it sliced clean through Boque's top half.

Boque stood paralyzed for a moment before the top half of his body slid right off.

And there, covered all over in slime with tentacles all over and in her, lay Luka.

Gakupo bent over and lifted her out. Then, he set her on the floor. All the Vocaloids gathered around.

Gakupo pulled tentacles out of her mouth, clearing her breathing passages. He then pulled on the tentacles around her, some still moving, and flung them off.

"Luka!" he shouted, shaking her. "Luka, can you hear me?"

Lily ran forward and dropped, her elbow landing on Luka's stomach.

"What are you-?" said Gakupo-

And then Luka suddenly arched upwards, turned on her side, and vomited a fountain of what looked like slime mixed with blood. She gasped, her eyes wide.

"There we go." said Lily gently. "Get it all out."

Luka threw up again. She winced and tears streamed down her cheeks, leaving tracks in the slime that covered it.

And then, somehow, the Vocaloids heard a noise behind them, and turned.

It was Boque's human form. A gash ran across his chest, dripping blood.

"I... I don't understand!" he said. "But... but how? How can this be?"

"Your calculations were wrong, you freak!" said BRS, defiantly. "We got Luka and you're clearly not going to fight anymore. We win, loser!"

"No, you don't." said Boque. "This isn't over quite yet!"

And then Ocidem dropped from the ceiling and landed on the person below him, which happened to be Gakupo.

"Say goodbye!" he sneered. There was a wild look in his bloodshot eyes, and Akita screamed as Ocidem sliced his scalpel across Gakupo's stomach. Gakupo cried out, and Boque laughed.

"YOU CAN'T WIN!" he shouted, as he regenerated. The wound on him closed up.

And then Ocidem laughed and hurled Gakupo into a chute marked "disposal" before collapsing on the floor.

Gakupo's stomach stung and bled as he slid down the chute. And then, he turned, and saw below him spinning blades, waiting eagerly to cut him to pieces.

"No!" said Luka, and flung herself down after him.

"Luka!" shouted Kaito. "NO!"

Luka kicked against the wall to go faster... and then she saw him. Gakupo, plunging towards his doom.

She spread out her feet and her hand shot out against the narrow walls, making her slowly slide to a stop. She grabbed Gakupo's hand.

His feet dangled an inch from the blades. One of his shoes fell off and it was instantly chopped into bits as it hit the spinning fan of blades.

Luka's legs wobbled. She was weak.

"I can't hold on like this much longer, Gakupo...!" she said, panting and coughing up some slime.

"It's okay, Luka." said Gakupo. "It'll be okay."

Suddenly, Len rappelled down with one of his ribbons. Another ribbon dangled from his other hand.

"Grab it!" he shouted. Luka and Gakupo both grabbed it, and Len grunted with effort as he pulled them all up. Rin was waiting at the top.

Meanwhile, Boque laughed. "You will die! YOU WILL ALL DIE!"

And then Miku jumped forward. "IVE HAD ENOUGH OF YOU!" she shouted, and kicked him...

Right into the disposal chute.

He screamed, a horrible gurgling scream, as he shot down past Luka and Gakupo. They held down to Len's ribbon tightly, but Boque grabbed Gakupo and Gakupo started to slide down.

Rin rappelled down on her ribbon and grabbed him.

"Gotcha!" she said, and grinned.

Rin and Len pulled Luka and Gakupo up. Once Luka was up, she gagged and more slime and blood gushed out of her mouth. She then collapsed sideways on the floor.

Rin dumped Gakupo next to her, unable to carry his weight any longer.

"Whew!" she said, wiping her forehead. "Gakupo, cut down on the eggplants!"

But Gakupo didn't listen. Instead he turned, pale from blood loss, to Luka and reached out to hold her hand. She reached out and grasped his. Their eyes met.

And then, as they heard the Vocaloids cheer and high-five each other, they both lost consciousness at the same time.


	14. Chapter Thirteen

**Author's Note: Well, here ya go! The very last chapter of this fanfiction. I have worked really hard on this and I thank you for sticking with me! By the way... more author's notes at the end of the chapter. I just don't want to spoil anything by talking too much here.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Vocaloid, Cryptin/Crypton, or any characters mentioned. I don't own happiness either, and there seems to be a lot of that in this chapter.**

**Enjoy!**

Chapter Thirteen

Gakupo paced nervously outside the huge hospital building, his purple ponytail whipping around every time he turned to walk in a different direction.

Miku stared at him, bored. "You really shouldn't work yourself up about this, Gakupo-"

"Work myself up?" said Gakupo nervously, screeching to a halt. "I'm not working myself up! Ha! I'm just pacing. There's nothing wrong with pacing. Pacing is good. So I'm not working myself up. I think I'd notice if I was because when someone works themselves up they typically-"

Miku grabbed him by the shoulders.

"Calm. Down." she said. She let go. "It's annoying when you're all frantic like that!"

"Well..." said Gakupo. "I... I haven't seen Luka in three weeks, and... I'm just a little...!"

"Driving yourself insane?" said Miku.

"No!" said Gakupo.

Miku raised an eyebrow.

"Okay, yes." said Gakupo, slumping. "How will she react?"

"Guess you'll find out soon enough!" said Miku. Her cellphone buzzed and she flipped it open. Her eyes scanned the text.

"She's as anxious to see you as you are to see her, you know." said Miku, snapping it shut.

Gakupo resumed his pacing. "But... what will she think about... about...!"

"Say what you need to say, Gakupo." said Miku, smiling. "Say what you need to say."

Flashback to the night of Boque's defeat.

"Quickly! They both need medical attention, NOW!" said Miku. Everyone had powered down.

Akita ran around the cavern, dialing frantically. "I know, I'm just trying to get a signal...!"

Suddenly, her phone beeped. "Yes!" she said. She held it up to her ear.

About 15 minutes later, an ambulance pulled up, lights flashing. All the Vocaloids stood and watched, the flashing red lights on the ambulance's roof illuminating them, as Luka and Gakupo were loaded onto stretchers.

"Are... are they going to be okay?" whispered Ann, gazing at Luka's pale face.

Lily squeezed her hand. "Of course they will be, Ann." she said. She looked after the ambulance as drove away, siren howling. "Of that, I'm sure."

Gumi pulled up in a bus a few minutes later. "All aboard!" she called from the window.

The Vocaloids went straight to the hospital, following the ambulance. They picked Hiro along the way and filled him in on everything as he listened, amazed.

When they had finished, Hiro leaned back. "Incredible." he said. "Oh, and by the way..."

What Hiro told them is that he had started a campaign revealing all the secret details that the government had been hiding, and it had made headlines.

"You're going to speak about your experiences with Cryptin, to show that the government isn't paying enough attention to what companies do. What if something like _this_ happened again?"

And so, the Vocaloids spoke to an audience the very next day. They sat, completely stunned, as the Vocaloids told their story. Sometimes, gasps were heard.

Soon after, there were protests, and a new law was passed so that nothing like what had happened to the Vocaloids would ever happen again.

Ocidem was sent to a mental hospital and the Vocaloids never saw him again.

Detectives had swarmed Cryptin's headquarters, looking for answers and the research that Cryptin was doing.

One thing, however, would never be solved. Why didn't Luka die when Ocidem pressed the button on the dashboard?

One theory was, Gakupo's knife had redirected some of the signals. Another theory was, the machinery in the room that kept the Vocaloids powerless somehow made the virus controller to go haywire.

Gakupo was released from the hospital soon after, with the only major injury being the gash that the scalpel had made.

But Luka had more extensive injuries, and had to go to a special intensive care building... girls only. So Gakupo could only wait and hear about Luka from the other girls. They told him about Luka's condition.

Luka had broken a few ribs, one leg, one arm, and punctured her stomach. She had infections, difficulty breathing, and irritation of the skin from all the tentacles. Having tentacles forced down your throat, after all, isn't the healthiest thing.

Three weeks later, Luka was finally ready to be released from the hospital...

And Gakupo was waiting.

Gakupo was still pacing when Miku's phone buzzed again. She set down her book, flipped the cellphone it open, and held it up to her ear. Gakupo stopped pacing and stared at the phone anxiously.

"What, what is it?" said Miku, irritated. Her eyes widened slightly. "Oh!" she said, twirling a blue strand of hair around her fingers. "Well, that's good." The voice on the other side talked a little, and Miku jumped down from the short wall on which she had been sitting before. "Okay. Well, we're ready. Bye!"

The minute Miku closed her phone, Gakupo bombarded her with questions.

"So?" he said, bouncing nervously. "What is it? When's she coming?"

"Soon, very soon now!" said Miku. "Sheesh, Gakupo, cool it! What are you even _doing_?"

"Bouncing. What does it look like?" said Gakupo.

Miku smacked her palm on her face. "Just. Calm. Down. You're going to give me a nervous headache!"

"Gah... how can I?" said Gakupo. "I'm about to...!"

"Don't think about it, Gakupo." said Miku, looking him in the eye. "Just do it. It'll come naturally."

The door of the hospital opened, and Rin jumped down the steps.

"They're coming, they're coming!" she squealed.

Gakupo made a nervous squeaky noise, like a rubber duck being squeezed, and paced faster.

"Is Gakupo-chan nervous?" said Rin.

"Understatement of the year." muttered Miku, spitting a piece of gum into the trash can and immediately sliding out another packet.

"Gum?" she offered Gakupo. Gakupo made a noise and shook his head wildly. His long, purple ponytail whapped Rin in the face.

"Well, more for us, then!" said Miku, and tossed Rin a piece. Rin caught it, peeled the paper off, and popped it into her mouth.

And suddenly, the doors of the hospital swung open. Gakupo whirled.

Gumi emerged. And then, led by Lily, following her was...

Luka.

She squinted in the bright light of the afternoon, and then her eyes focused. Gakupo gasped.

Luka's pink hair fluttered and glittered behind her, in waves of cherry-blossom strands. She was... beautiful.

Luka suddenly stopped and scanned all the people before her.

Gakupo stepped forward.

And then Luka's eyes landed on Gakupo, and her mouth exploded into a wide smile. She giggled and ran forward.

"Gakupo!" she shouted with tears of joy dropping from her eyes. She ran right into Gakupo's outstretched arms, and Gakupo stumbled back. They both laughed.

Gakupo squeezed Luka tight, and Luka closed her eyes and snuggled into his cozy, familiar chest, feeling his familiar heartbeat and smelling the sweet scent of eggplants that rose from his clothes.

Gakupo laid his head on hers. They stood there for a while, just hugging.

Miku smiled and beckoned to the others.

"We'll leave you two alone for a while." said Miku, walking away.

"Yeah, and say what you need to say, Gakupo!" called Lily.

"Say what you need to say!" hollered Rin, and then they were gone.

A faint breeze swept across them, blowing Gakupo's hair into Luka's, the colors mixing. Luka opened her eyes slightly, lazily, and the two gently pulled away from each other.

Luka looked up, into Gakupo's eyes. Luka's blue eyes reflected the light of the sun and the clear sky. Gakupo looked down into those glistening eyes and decided that he couldn't have wished for a more beautiful reunion.

Luka looked up at Gakupo's grinning face. The familiar outline of his face... the slight curved edges of his mouth... she took it all in.

"Gakupo...!" she whispered adoringly, tracing a finger down his face. Gakupo reached up and held her hand.

"Luka...," he said. "You have no idea how much I've missed you... I even tried making pancakes while you were gone."

"And how did that go?" said Luka.

"We had to use the fire extinguisher." said Gakupo, guiltily. He blushed.

Luka shook her head. "Well, it's official. You will never, ever be able to best my cooking.

Gakupo chuckled. "You're right. I give up."

The two stood for a little, next to each other. Some leaves from a tree swirled past.

"I... I've missed you a lot too." admitted Luka. "I thought about you... all the time. I still can't believe that all the battles weren't just a dream...!"

"Well, now they could all be and it wouldn't matter." said Gakupo, proudly.. "Nothing like that will ever happen again. We made sure of that!"

Luka gave a slight nod. "Yeah, I heard from the girls."

Gakupo met her eyes, and then blushed and looked away.

"What?" said Luka. "What is it?"

Gakupo caressed her cheek. "There's something I've been meaning to tell you." he said. He was definitely turning pink now, color slowly rising in his cheeks like a thermometer.

"Is that what Rin and Lily were saying? About saying what you need to say?" said Luka suspiciously. Her heart beat just a little faster.

"Yeah." said Gakupo softly.

_Uh-oh._ thought Luka. _What if this is... bad news?_

Gakupo breathed in and out slowly, and began talking.

"Well... okay. Lets face it. Both of us are studying medicine already. We're not in high school anymore. In short, both of us are in our early twenties, and we're not getting any younger." said Gakupo.

Luka nodded, still not understanding where Gakupo's little speech was going. "Yeah." she said.

Gakupo shifted, and went one. "At first, I didn't really know you. You were just another person that I shared Vocaloid Mansion with. But I just hadn't really met you yet, and when I finally did... well, it was perfect. Bliss."

As Luka watched, his eyes darkened. "And then, Ata Udne stepped in, with the whole incident at the Sutin Building. We... we were separated."

He looked up and his ponytail shimmered in the sunlight.

"But... you came for me and saved me. And then, just as we finally saw each other again... I almost _died._ We were almost separated- forever."

Luka looked down. That memory had never quite dimmed in her mind.

"Yeah, I remember." she said.

Gakupo nodded. "But, finally, we were together again. And after that, we spent a few years being happy together. But then, we were pulled apart by Cryptin. And we were separated. Again."

"We were lucky that night." said Gakupo. "We kept on... almost losing each other..." he gulped, remembering the horrible time he had spent believing that Luka was dead. "And... and I really thought that... that y-you w-were..."

"It's okay." said Luka. "I'm here now. Go ON already, get to the point!" she said anxiously.

Gakupo nodded, smiling. "Of course." he said.

And then Gakupo stepped back and looked at her. As the wind whistled past them once more, Gakupo's hair streamed out behind him. His cheeks were red now, and a shy smile lit up his face.

Luka looked at him, her eyes shining.

Gakupo cleared his throat.

"Luka." he said.

It felt right. He went on.

"Luka Megurine." he said on a loving voice. "There is one thing that I know, that has made itself quite clear in my mind."

A cloud that had been blocking the sun moved, and the sunlight streamed down. The sudden burst of light lit up the ground and the two people standing on it.

"What I know is this." he said. "I never want to be apart from you again, never want to miss a single day of your delicious cooking. I never want to have lived a day without seeing your face, and hearing your sweet laugh ringing in my ears. I want you by my side."

Luka's eyes widened. Her hands trembled as Gakupo knelt on the ground before her.

"Luka. Luka Megurine." he said, pulling a small, white box from his pocket and flipping it open.

"Will you marry me?"

Epilouge

People waited in their seats, muttering to each other. Outside the synagogue, a small drizzle moistened the ground.

A chupah, a Jewish wedding canopy, stood in the front of the room, waiting.

Behind the curtain in the back of the room, Len groaned.

"Ugh!" he said. "I look ridiculous!"

"Come one, Len!" said Rin, giggling and twirling. Her white dress spun around her. "This'll be fun!"

"Speak for yourself!" grumbled Len.

"Oh, stop being such a whiner!" teased Len, and pulled him towards the carpet that led to the chupah.

"Wh-wh-whoa!" said Len as they burst through the curtains. All the Vocaloids that were seated turned.

Len immediately stood up straight and rolled his shoulders back. He was wearing a white tuxedo. Both Rin and Len had baskets with flower petals dangling off their arms.

Rin happily flung handfuls into the air, and a few people cheered. Len reached into his basket, drew out a single petal, and dropped it on the floor beside him.

"You're no fun!" whispered Rin angrily.

Since Hiro actually came from a Jewish family that moved to Japan, he had raised all the Vocaloids with Jewish beliefs, at least the ones that he got as babies. The newer Vocaloids usually followed in his footsteps eventually, too.

The Rabbi waited next to the Chupah, stroking his long beard and holding a siddur, a Jewish prayer book. Due to Lily's reckless driving, they had been late. Lily had been extra excited about the special day.

And then, all the Vocaloids hushed as Gakupo suddenly emerged from the curtains. They slowly drifted back into place behind him.

Since Gakupo had no parents, Kaito and Al stepped forward. They hooked their arms around his and walked him to the Chupah.

Soon after, Luka came out from the curtains, her face veiled. No one could read her expression... because no one could see her face, of course.

Lily and Miku stepped up and hooked their arms around hers. Miku winked at her and whispered, "good luck!" as they walked up the carpet.

Gakupo looked at Luka as she approached, a smile on his face.

Luka gazed at Gakupo through her veil. He was dressed in a tuxedo.

_How very un-Gakupo like!_ she thought.

Luka herself was dressed in a long wedding dress that trailed behind her and rustled with every step. She went and joined Gakupo under the Chupah.

Luka walked around Gakupo a few times, then stopped. The Rabbi and the rest of the congregation said a few blessings, and then the rabbi held out a delicate glass of sparkling wine. Luka and Gakupo both drank from it.

Then, Rin and Len walked up with the wedding band. Gakupo took it and gently slid it onto Luka's delicate right index finger.

The rabbi reciting a few more blessings, Gakupo holding a glass of wine.

And then, it was time.

The Rabbi wrapped a glass in a napkin and set it on the ground in front of Gakupo. The Vocaloids waited with bated breath.

Gakupo brought his foot down and they heard the glass break under his shoe.

"MAZEL TOV!" shouted everyone, and they all cheered and jumped up and down.

"It's s-s-so beautiful...!" sobbed Miku.

Meiko rolled her eyes. "C'mon, Miku, stop it!"

Miku suddenly flopped onto Meiko's shoulder and sobbed with joy. Meiko sighed and patted her head.

And then Gakupo removed the veil, uncovering Luka's shining face. Tears slowly leaked from her eyes.

"Gakupo...!" she said.

"Luka." said Gakupo, and then he pulled her into an embrace and they kissed and kissed and kissed under the Chupah.

Everyone clapped and cheered loudly as Luka and Gakupo finished their kiss.

"Gakupo..." said Luka, weeping with joy. "Promise me that we'll be together from now on. Promise!"

"I promise!" said Gakupo, his voice trembling with the tears that gathered in his eyes, and then they kissed again, their lips locking in love and devotion as their hearts beat faster and their love swirled around them, rising up above them and into the starry night sky.

**Author's Note: And so ends this fanfiction. I hope you enjoyed it!**

**It never really occurred to me what religion the Vocaloids were up till now, and I decided to make them Jewish. Why? Because I don't know anything about other religion's weddings! I've only been to Jewish weddings so far... I'm Jewish, after all!**

**I feel obligated to list all the people that stuck with me and posted reviews for my fanfic... just to honor them. So, thanks SO MUCH (SOOO MUCH!) to:**

Sakagami Hina

MissMorgi

mysticXdrops

Sydney Grise

icysu22

x3VanillaxLove

Violette-K

Sonata7209

Pixy-chan4200

**Thanks, you guys... your reviews really helped me! Heck, If you hadn't reviewed my chapters... I never would have gotten through the entire story! So, thanks to you all for supporting me! Yaaaay!**

**I hope you enjoyed my fanfiction! I'm considering writing an "after all this when Gakupo and Luka are pretty much living somewhere else" fanfic, with another Vocaloids pairing, like Meiko+Kaito or Gumi+Piko or somethin'. But, I've also decided that I sort of want to do a D. Gray Man fanfic. Or maybe an Angel Beats one. Or maybe a Black Cat one! Or maybe a Skulduggery Pleasant one (If that's even one of the categories...!) or maaaybe a few Luka+Gakupo married One-shots. Tell me what you think! Oh, and REVIEW THIS CHAPTER. REVIEW IT LIKE THERE IS AN EVIL LLAMA STANDING NEXT TO YOU POINTING A PENGUIN-LAUNCHING BAZOOKA AT YOUR HEAD. DO IT!**

**Pleeease, I really want to know if I did well with this!**

**Thanks, everyone!**


End file.
